The Time of Wolves 2
by Drongs2.0
Summary: Everything was peaceful in the small town of Nome until strange occurrences cause a certain wolfdog to spring into action. Now he must figure out what's going on and who's really trying to warn him of the coming danger.
1. The Coming Storm

**The Time of Wolves 2**

 **Chapter 1: The Coming Storm**

Nome Alaska February 1928

The small mining town was bustling with life and excitement the likes of which it has never seen before. Indeed it was a time for celebration, for today was the anniversary of how the famed wolfdog, Balto, saved the town from a horrible diphtheria outbreak. Not three years ago did he brave the wilderness of the cold tundra's to rescue a missing sled team to deliver the medicine to the town's stricken children.

Speaking of such, Balto was at the center of all this celebrating. Nothing less for the hero of Nome. The wolfdog felt as if he was on top of the world. Here he was surrounded by friend, family, and strangers from all over the world. Even his parents took a break from the afterlife to show up for the occasion.

And at the end of this extravaganza was none other than President Calvin Coolidge to award him for his stellar show of bravery. Not only that but in honor of Balto's wolf heritage, the President announced that he was going to meet the chief delegate of wolf kind, Nava, to discuss making wolves legal citizens of the United States. Everything was looking up for our resident wolfdog, or that's what it appeared at first.

In a blink of an eye, everyone who was once in the town vanished before his eyes without a trace. All that was left were empty – decayed buildings. Balto, concerned about where everyone was, chose to look for any signs of life within his now dying home. Throughout the streets, he could find nothing, nothing but a horde of ice sculptures cluttering the roads. Wait. On closer inspection these were not simple ice sculptures, these were the townspeople encased in ice. Not just the townspeople, but the neighborhood pets as well. Jenna, Kodi, his sled-team, Rosy and her parents, all of them trapped with sheer terror frozen on their expressions.

When looking for the cause of such a catastrophe, Balto only had to look up to see a storm cloud, the likes of which the wolfdog has never, seen hovering over the town. Something about this storm set Balto on edge as he started into its eye – no wait...eyes. Two big, scary, blood red eyes were staring down at him. It was as if an actual living being made up the storm itself. To further iterate that idea, the storm's clouds formed a massive hand which careened itself right at Balto. When it made an impact, the ground underneath him shattered into an endless black abyss. While falling through the empty void, Balto could hear something speaking in the darkness.

" _Come find me!_ "

* * *

Balto shot up from under his blanket in terror. His heart was beating as if it would pop out of his chest as he looked over his surroundings. He was on his abandoned fishing boat just outside of Nome. It was all a dream — a horrible nightmare that he was glad to have awakened from. The wolfdog never had one quite like that in some time. Not since…well not since winter started. Least he could take comfort in that Boris wasn't awake to nag about it as Balto stretched his legs before going into town.

Looking back on it, it almost seemed rather silly. The streets of Nome were always so quiet and peaceful; everyone out and about to get on with daily lives. There was no way that a parade would be held here. Not a ceremony so big that it would involve the President of the United States. No, the most it ever got excitement around here was during the last legs of the annual sled-races. Even though, when their team lost this year with Kaltag as the lead dog did little to disparage the crowd's enthusiasm.

"Balto!" came the voice of the small redheaded human girl who was the owner of Balto's mate named Rosy, "Hi, boy!"

Rosy bolted from her home to greet the wolfdog who showed up on her doorsteps. Though Balto came to meet up with Jenna, he never minds seeing Rosy. She was by far his favorite human being the only one who trusted him before saving the town, so he would always welcome a playful pet or bear hug from the girl. Was still a great way to start the day before being greeted inside for some breakfast. Though he was never officially adopted as a pet of this family, that didn't stop Rosy's parents from buying an extra food bowl just for him. It was nice to feel like part of the family.

"Morning dear." Came the beautiful husky that was the love of his life, Jenna.

The red and white husky gave Balto an affectionate nuzzle under his chin before joining him for breakfast. Balto was enjoying the company of Jenna's human family. At least until Rosy had left to visit her friend, this was the perfect opportunity for the two canines the excuse to head out on the town.

"You came by earlier than usual." said Jenna.

"Yeah," Balto began to explain, "Got woken up early from a nightmare I had."

Jenna had a coy smile on her face, "There were no dinosaurs in this one, I hope."

Balto had himself a little chuckle at this little inside joke between the two of them, "No, this time the President came to visit us."

"Well, I hope I looked nice for such an occasion."

"Don't you always?" Balto asked as he lovely nuzzled his mate.

The two love-birds continued their stroll through Nome. Even when the streets were beginning to now flood with townsfolk eager to get to their daily routine, everything felt peaceful around them. As far as Balto was concerned, as long as he was with Jenna nothing could ever go wrong.

"I'm telling you there's something out there!"

Balto stopped in his tracks when he heard some commotion coming from the local tavern. It was from an old man that the residents refer to as Old-Man Johnson. Johnson was a local hunter who's been at his job for longer than Balto could ever remember and showed no signs of slowing down. Most of the dogs around town usually joke that the old man had been living before America was even founded.

"You've been drinking again, old man." said one of the patrons sitting alongside him, "The only thing out there this time of year are rabbits and that scared up white wolf. Everyone knows that as long as you leave him alone, he leaves you alone."

"It ain't no wolf," Old-Man Johnson, "I heard something unusual down at the caves near the falls."

"It probably was just a bear," said another, "They get cranky when you wake them up from their hibernation early."

"I've been hunting through these woods for many years. I know the difference between a rabbit, a wolf, and a bear!" Old-Man Johnson refuted, "I'm telling you whatever's out there is unlike anything I've heard before. Why even Caesar was freaked out."

"That dog can't tell the difference between a squirrel and a caribou." said the first patron.

"That only happened once!"

So enticed was Balto in this conversation that he failed to notice how he was ignoring Jenna's concerned questioning. Balto snapped out of it and continued his walk with his mate as if nothing has happened. Though Jenna wanted to know what that was all about, Balto was determined to convince her that it was nothing. Though being honest to himself, what he heard did catch Balto's intrigue.

He has a dream of some sinister force, and suddenly Old-Man Johnson just so happens to have a run-in with something mysterious. One may call it a coincidence, but Balto has had a history of his dreams trying to warn him of such things. Sounds crazy, one may say, but it was only near the start of last winter did these kinds of dreams start occurring. He could still remember how those dreams sent him across the Alaskan wilderness with his daughter, Aleu, to aid a wolf pack. He had to say goodbye to her that day as she left to lead the pack from then on. Balto hoped that this wasn't one of those moments, but little did he know he'd be in a rude awakening.

"Dad!" called his son, Kodi; who, like most of their children, resembled his mother with his fur color, "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Hey, son." Balto greeted before he notices how fast Kodi was rushing in, "Where's the fire?"

"I was looking for you," Kodi said as he approached his parents, "It's Caesar. He's been wanting to speak to you all morning."

Caesar, Old-Man Johnson's dog? First is owner had an odd experience, and suddenly Caesar wishes to talk to Balto. The more Balto thought of it, the less it was starting to sound like a coincidence as he followed after Kodi. When they reached Caesar, a Bernese Mountain Dog, the poor guy was pacing back and forth outside his kennel with a few other dogs that Balto was familiar with.

"Balto, thank goodness you came!" Caesar said in such a worrisome expression on his brows; which honestly wasn't that surprising though. For a hunting dog, Caesar was known for being pretty anxious at times, "You won't believe what happened to me!"

Balto remembered what he heard from Old-Man Johnson, "I could guess."

For the next several minutes, Caesar told the tale of his morning hunt with Old-Man Johnson. They were out looking to catch hares, and maybe caribou if they were lucky, for some stew. Things started like any other morning of hunting until the mountain dog stumbled on the most unusual of scents; like nothing his nose has ever picked up before. Perhaps some fresh new prey, Caesar thought, but he soon found out how wrong he was. He followed it scent trail to a cave near the waterfalls did he realize that he and his master stumbled on to something not of this earth! Shadows of some twisted – unnatural creatures aligning the walls in such that neither human or dog could recognize. Caesar and his master ran away from the scene when the unknown figure made a move towards them. To say that Caesar was traumatized by the experience would be an understatement.

"When I got back, I just had to speak to you Balto." Caesar finished his tale in relief that the wolfdog was with him.

"No offense, but that der sounds a bit farfetched." said one of Balto's friends, a Chow-Chow named Nikki.

"I'm telling you that's what happened!" Caesar reiterated.

"Sure you just didn't have a run in with Kemo?" asked a skinny looking grey and white husky by the name of Star.

"I can tell the difference between the scent of a wolf and whatever was in there."

"You mean like how you tracked down a squirrel thinking it was a caribou?" butted in a brownish husky with a dark patch over his left eye.

"That only happened once!" Caesar said but not before the other dog started laughing their heads off.

Once the laughter had settled down, Nikki chimed in, "Then what do you think it was?"

"Isn't it obvious? The long neck, huge protruding claws, the large crown-like antlers," Caesar lowered himself in fear of having to recount what he saw, "It was a Wendigo!"

A moment of silence fell before once again being engulfed in laughter. All were laughing except for Balto. For some odd reason, hearing the term Wendigo struck a chord with the wolfdog. Like something in him should know of it though none of this helped Caesar, who now had his paws over his head in embarrassment.

"You believe in Wendigos?" Nikki asked rhetorically.

"That is the outlandish, the most nonsensical, just simply outrageous…"

"It's downright hilarious." Star interrupted Kaltag's rambling which, like most of the time, led to Kal knocking out the smaller husky.

"Caesar, you know there's no such thing as Wendigos," Jenna said with the intention of calming the dog, "They're just folklore that humans tell their children to keep them from going out into the forest at night."

All the ridicule and support, however, did little to sway Caesar. The mountain dog was still very much convinced of what had transpired. Though, to Balto, he felt that somehow there was more to this than what was being let on.

"Caesar," the wolfdog spoke up, "Why did you want to see me specifically?"

"Well…" Caesar's nerves almost got the better of him, "You see, before the Wendigo came after me and my master, it uttered a single word. It spoke your name, Balto."

Now, this was getting a lot weirder the more Balto thought it over in his head. Bizarre dreams and soon stories of monsters located outside of town. Something was not right. Balto could feel it in his bones. Even when he and the other dogs left Caesar, the wolfdog couldn't shake this curiosity stirring inside him. Certainly, it all had to be some huge coincidence. Seriously, Wendigos? A creature that lives out in remote areas in the woods that prey on human flesh, or possess other humans to crave said flesh. Even with all the oddities he faced, the idea was still too out there.

"So, what do you think dad?" Balto was taken off his train of thought by Kodi, "All sounds pretty crazy, huh?"

Balto unintentionally chuckled nervously, "You can say that again."

"So you wanna go look?" Kodi said to Balto's utter confusion, "I mean, Caesar saw something. Might be cool to check it out."

"Come on Runt," came the voice of another red and white husky. Balto's oldest son, Dingo, "Don't tell me you believe in that old folklore. Even as the youngest in the litter, I think you would have grown out of believing such things by now."

"Come on Dingo, give him a break," said Saba, one of Balto's three daughters, "Kodi's always the one who craves adventures, and who could blame him? Hunting down monsters sounds like fun."

Balto snickered as his children bantered on. They were all such good pups. Dingo, being the oldest, chose to dub his little brother that title for being the runt of the litter, much to Kodi's chagrin. Even when Kodi has ended up growing to almost surpass Balto's size, Dingo's constant teasing never cease to end. Though none of it was done out of malicious intent, for he loved all of his siblings dearly even if his way of showing it was by continually annoying his little brother. Balto remembered how he broke the news of his half wolf heritage to his kids after what had happened to Aleu, and Dingo was primarily upset that his sister was gone from their lives. Most other time, this eldest of the litter processed a calm – levelheaded demeanor; which couldn't be said for his other daughter.

Saba, from birth, has always had this huge spark of energy. Every second this girl would be bouncing around like some newborn pup. Whether that was a result of her wolf gene's, or she just never grew out of her puppy phase, Balto never knew. Regardless, he loved her and her playful spirit. The young female husky was almost a spitting image of her mother. Although, she had much more define muscle tone almost making her look nearly as big as her brothers, and her tail would never quite curl up all the way.

"You know, if you want, you both are more than welcome to come along." Balto offered.

Like that, Saba's ears fell back, and her head lowered in disappointment, "Ah, I won't be able to go. Timothy is expecting me to be home for a 'special walk' before dinner," she said before her head shot back up and her tail started wagging like crazy, "We're having pork sausage tonight, and I always get to lick my boy's plate clean. If I'm an extra, extra good girl, he'll sneak me one when his parents aren't looking!" Saba's mouth began to water at the very thought of it.

"Dear, you're drooling." Jenna said for Saba to wipe her mouth.

"I would love for some family fun time, but I don't care to go chasing after imaginary creatures," said the eldest pup, "Sorry Runt, I won't be there to protect you from being eaten by Wendigos. That is if it doesn't possess you first with its spirit magic. _Oooooohhhhhh_." Dingo finished with dramatic effect to freak his little brother out.

"Stop being so mean Dingo! Everyone knows Wendigos only eat human flesh." Saba came to Kodi's defense, "Besides, spirit magic wouldn't sound like that. It would be more of a _whooooh-whooooh!_ "

The family had a good laugh from Saba's shenanigans before Jenna spoke up, "You go along Balto. I'm not one for adventures."

"Yeah, good luck with you wild Wendigo chase!" said Dingo as his father and younger brother left for the woods.

For the most part, their walk out of town and into the forest was a quiet one. Both canines were just treading through the snow-covered terrain. Though Balto was still confident they wouldn't find anything. The wolfdog had been through these woods many times, and beyond, and not once has he ever witnessed any signs of monsters of the like. However, that's not what he cared about. Balto was just happy to spend time with his son.

With Kodi's duty as part of the mail team, the younger dog would be off constantly delivering mail and supplies to White Mountain. Depending on what happens during the in-between trips he might be gone for many of days at a time, and Balto would only be able to spend time with his son for just a short amount of time. It was best to take whatever chance he could get to spend time with Kodi even if that meant chasing down imaginary creatures.

"Dad, can I ask you something?" Kodi asked as he maneuvered under a fallen tree.

"Shoot."

"You don't think I try too hard to act like you, do you?"

Balto halted on top of a sizeable icy rock, "What brought this on?" Kodi choice not to answer his father, "Dingo's been teasing you again, hasn't he?" Kodi's silence only sealed the deal, "Tell me, son, are you happy with what you're doing?" Kodi nodded, "Then it doesn't matter what I think. Don't get me wrong. I'm proud that you want to follow in my paw prints. But what really matters to me is if my pups are happy."

"Thanks, dad."

"Besides, you know what happened last time I tried to push one of you to follow my example."

"You're…talking about Aleu?" Kodi asked hesitantly.

Balto nodded before continuing through the snow. It was still a sore point when raising his pups. Now don't get him wrong, Balto loved all of his children equally, but Aleu was _his_ baby. The only one out of six pups to be born with his fur pattern. For that reason, Balto was very protective of her after all the harshness he faced with his wolf heritage. He even neglected to tell her, or his other children for that matter about said heritage as to spare her of the fact. However, that blew up in his face when a hunter took aim at her one day, and she ran off in anger after Balto was forced to tell her the truth. Sure, she forgave him long before she ran off with a wolf pack across the ocean. But the wolfdog still missed his daughter dearly.

"We're here!" Kodi announced.

With Balto temporarily broken from memory lane, he now realized where he was. They had made it to the supposed Wendigo sighting. The river that had once flowed through this place was now frozen all the way up to the waterfall, but even then Balto couldn't forget the place. This was a place where Balto had, not only month prior, almost died after a race with Kodi back home gone wrong. A day that Balto will no sooner forget.

"You okay dad?" Kodi asked in fear that his father's stillness might be signs of him suffering from PTSD.

"I-I'm fine son," Balto stuttered, "Just lost in memories. Come on, let's go find Caesar's Wendigo."

The two canines moved their tails up the river until they found their destination. A cave, as Caesar described, located right next to the frozen waterfall almost wide enough to fit a full-grown bull elephant possibly. From the mouth, everything seemed clear. So far nothing otherworldly in sight. Venturing deeper also yielded no results. The cave was utterly devoid of all life. Going further was also out of the question, for going too far led to a ten-foot drop with sharp – spiky stalactites covering the floor. Balto and Kodi stopped dead in their tracks just when one of their paws stepped on the edge and almost fell through.

"Looks like we've gone as far as we can go." said Kodi.

Balto agreed with his son, "Better make the most of it. HELLO!" he bellowed with his voice echoing off the cave walls and into the untouchables darkness ahead, "ARE THERE ANY WENDIGOS IN HERE!?"

Alas, no one answered. Oh well, the two had a good laugh at Balto's antics all the same. Once their chuckles died down, Kodi suggested to at least sniff out the cave. Caesar did say he was following an unrecognizable scent; it might still linger around the place. Balto humored his son's request and so started sniffing the area. It wasn't long before his nose caught something, and oh boy did it catch something. Something that the wolfdog thought he would never be able to smell out here, but his nose never lied. This unique – impossible scent permeated these very walls. But how and why?

"Dad?" Balto snapped out of it thanks to Kodi's voice, "What's wrong? You found something?"

Balto was at a loss for words. Just how on earth could _they_ be here? "Ahh…no." Kodi gave his father a confused look, "Actually son, we should probably be heading back."

"Why?"

Balto tried to think up a good excuse, "It's getting late. We should head back before it starts getting dark."

"It's only an hours past noon," Kodi clarified, "It doesn't get dark that fast around here."

"Yeah but..." if Balto could he would be rubbing the back of his neck right now, "You know how your mother worries."

Kodi wished to protest, but his father was not taking no for an answer. The younger dog followed Balto out of the cave, and that was the end of it. Kodi never could figure out what came over his father as they went back home. From then on, the two returned home without so much of an exchange of words. Kodi left to join back up with his team as Balto decided to spend the remaining day with Jenna.

Though it remained unspoken, Jenna could tell that something happened out there. Seeing how her husband and son came back without so much as speaking to each other was a dead ringer. She tried to coax it out of him but was met with must resistance. Things, however, didn't fare any better for the two lovebirds. For some reason, Balto seemed out of it. He would just walk alongside Jenna without much input on any conversations; only contributing to a series of nonverbal responses. After a while, the sun was now setting on the horizon, and so Balto and Jenna called it a day with a few nuzzles before headed off to their respected homes.

Balto walked to the outskirts of Nome to his grounded fishing boat. He needed some rest after all this day's confusions. The wolfdog stepped onto the plank leading on the vessel hoping to wrap himself in his soft – warm blanket and sleep the day away. However, that was put on hold when the wolfdog was faced with a disgruntled figure.

"Well, look who finally came back," said one of Balto's oldest friends, Boris. Boris was a Russian goose who has taken care of Balto ever since he was but a little pup. The old goose was practically the closest thing Balto has ever had to father; to this day he was astonished that he could still bark instead of honk. He, however, didn't like to occupy Balto in town often. Boris would remain scrubbing down the deck of their boat, "Couldn't at least wait a little longer for me to wake up before leaving to say hi Boris, good morning Boris, see you later Boris…" he has been in a particularly bad mood this whole winter, "I ain't getting any younger here."

"Come on Boris; you're not that old." Said Balto.

"I'm old enough to not fly south for winter."

The was enough for Balto to give the goose a sly grin, "Yeah that's why you don't migrate. It had nothing to do with you being afraid of heights. What was your record height with your eyes opened? One-two feet off the ground?"

"I regret ever telling you that," Boris grumbled, "Easy for you to make jokes when your girl is still in town."

"Don't be like that Boris," Balto tried to comfort his old friend, "Stella's only going to be gone until winter ends. If I remember, didn't she say she'll come back early just for you?"

Boris only moaned in disappointment, "Winter cannot end any sooner."

Yes, Boris was grumpy over a girl, but not just any girl. Stella was, for lack of better words, Boris's dream goose. It was at the beginning of last spring when the female goose flown from the south as she said was for a change of scenery — something to do with her being in a relationship that went sour. From how she made it out, it sounds like her last boyfriend may have cheated on her, or something, Balto didn't try to pry anything out of respect. Being her first trip to Nome, she ended up meeting Boris when he 'saved' her from some polar bears. From there on the two were almost inseparable. Almost. Stella had no such fears of height as Boris does. As much as it pained them both, Stella's instincts won over, and such she flew south once fall was coming to an end. Though, when she did, the female snow goose lamented on how she had something to come home to. She even promised that she would try to fly back as soon as possible.

"I'm sure you can hold out for one more month," said Balto before letting out a yawn, "Anyway, it's been a long day. I'm going to bed."

Boris stroked his chin quizzically, "A bit early for ya. Thought you would be chasing sticks by moonlight with Jenna at this time."

"I'm tired, Boris," Balto answered as moved under an old blanket that's been on the boat for as long as he has, "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Is that so?" Boris became ever more curious, "Would've been from any dreams boychik?"

Balto groaned in frustration. Remembering how when his dreams revolving around Aleu first surfaced; how Boris was concerned with how that must mean something when Balto just wanted to shrug it all off. When he came home after that adventure the words of the old goose saying he told him so still lingered in his head. If Boris finds out about having another dream, he would never hear the end of it.

"I was up late looking at the aurora last might and nothing more," Balto said as soon as the excuse came into his head, "And right now the only thing keeping me up is you!"

"Touchy." Boris remarked before sauntering away.

Balto didn't mean snap at Boris. There was just too much on his mind at the moment — too many questions running through his head that was hard to ignore. He'll make sure to apologize first thing in the morning. For now, Balto laid his head down to sleep this day away.

* * *

 _Balto found himself wandering through the town Nome in complete confusion. The entire town itself was utterly deserted. There was not a shred of life to be found no matter where he looked: nothing but the wind to drown out the uneasy silence that surrounded him. The buildings were in shambles, windows broken opened, doors hanging off their hinges, and just overcome by the elements. Where was everyone?_

 _The sound of a crash came from down the main road, and thus Balto leaped to check it out. Hopefully, he would find some semblance of life around here. But what he saw was not what was to be expected._ _From what moved out onto the road was a tall lump of snow running on its own. It stopped once it came into view of the wolfdog to turn around to showcase its haunting blood-red eyes. It was enough to freeze Balto in place before the lump of snow charged at him in full force. Balto was left with no other options but to run for his life in the other direction. There was no telling what that thing would do once it caught up with him._

" _Balto!"_

 _He looked back to see who had called for him, only to regret it immediately after. Now the lump had sprouted arms made out of nothing but solid ice clawing after him. But no matter how hard he ran, the town only seemed to extend for miles on end. However, he wasn't able to travel that far when a large wall sprang out of nowhere to halt Balto's progress. Now the wolfdog was forced to face off against the mound of snow, that has grown considerably large, all on his own. It opened a maw of razor-sharp icicle-like teeth and lunged at the wolfdog. The last thing Balto knew was him swirling within nothing more than endless snow blowing all around him_

" _Come find me!"_

* * *

For the second time in a row, Balto shot up from his blanket in a shallow breath. It was just another dream, he thought — another hard night of sleep. This one was even worse than the last, yet still had the same feeling to it. Bad enough to wake him as the night sky still filled the sky. The stars looked to be slowing fading away and a slight warm breeze was in the air. The morning was beyond the horizon with less than an hour before sunrise. The wolfdog was not getting any more sleep this night that was for sure. Not with another terrifying dream looming over his head. With the rest of the town surely asleep, Balto looked for something to preoccupy himself with. On board, this boat laid a chest of which once held his old red blanket, but now it held something even more precious. From within, Balto pulled a star-shaped leaf, a treestar it was called. A plant that hasn't existed for millions of years.

Jenna's little comment the other day about dreaming of dinosaurs was, in fact, no dream at all. Near that start of this winter when Balto had his mishap with racing Kodi, a race that almost drowned him, something unusual happened. For you see this incident resulted in him traveling back in time. Such a crazy result that had Balto stumped. While on this journey in the distant past, Balto stumbled onto a fertile land, the Great Valley. There he met such a colorful group of children that he was proud to call friends: Cera the stubborn but good-hearted threehorn, Ducky a very cheerful little swimmer, Petrie the nervous flyer, Spike the mute and loyal spike tail, and of course Littlefoot. Littlefoot was a young yet curious and brave little longneck and was Balto's best friend while he stayed in the valley; enough so to have the wolfdog live with him and his grandparents. Balto felt as if he was part of the family while with them. After a week's stay, Balto was forced to face off against a ferocious beast, a large carnivore that the dinosaurs dubbed a Horned Sharptooth, to save his friends from its wrath. Only then was he able to finally return home to the present, but with a slight complication. Balto was sent back mere hours after he had left with only Jenna being told of what he experienced. Because of this discrepancy, Jenna was convinced that his week-long journey was nothing but a dream. This treestar, a parting gift from Littlefoot, was the only reminder that Balto had to remind him that his time spent there was real.

Periodically, Balto would take out the exotic plant as a reminder of all the memories of his dinosaur friends. All the games they played, the stories they shared, the dangers they survived. Even all the adversities he had gone through whether from being the only one of his kind in this prehistoric world to all the persecution from a particular dinosaur trying to make his life harder in the valley. Whatever the case, Balto cherished his time there and missed the friends he made dearly.

Taking a whiff of the treestar a bit of Littlefoot's scent was still latched to the plant. It was this scent that made Balto so weary of the cave he explored with Kodi. For some reason he could not fathom, Balto could swear that he caught the same scent in the there. And not just his, but the others as well. The whole gang's scent was there. It just didn't seem possible. The way to that period was shut when he traveled back into the present. But he could not shrug off the possibility of if it were true. If so, then those dinosaurs were roaming around in the cold dark forest in a time not their own. Balto needed to find out for sure.

Quickly he bolted from the boat and ran off into the night. It wasn't long before the wolfdog found his destination and went headway into the cave again; sniffing the same wall thoroughly he could now say for sure that his hunch was correct. They were here alright. Now it was a matter of figuring out where they were. Sniffing around outside yielded some results. He found a scent trail leading further into the woods. Hopefully, they didn't travel too far in the time that when he was last here.

" _AAAHHHHHH!"_

A scream and one Balto remembered well. If the one behind it was in danger, then he had to hurry. Balto wasted no time as he stumbled upon a very angry grizzly attacking a hollow dead tree. The bear was probably woken up from his hibernation early and taking out his frustration on the poor soul who did so. But, from what Balto could make out, that poor soul was one of the people he was searching for. The canine charged on head first on rampaging bear; going for the legs first to draw its attention. The bear growled in annoyance as it kicked the nuisance away before going back to the task at hand. Not being one to give up, Balto leaped back into action this time on the bear's back to bite into its shoulder. That got the bear's attention to cease its attack to focus on this insolent canine that fear got in the way. The bear leaned back to fall and crush the wolfdog only for Balto to jump off at the last minute. The two squared off once the bear was up again.

With both animals were now locked in this intense staredown to see who would make the first move. The bear let out a roar before charging Balto with full force. The wolfdog was too quick and dodged the oncoming beast with ease, but not without being struck by its shoulder and sent to the ground. With that, the bear took the advantage to stomp the wolfdog down with the latter rolling away from the heavy paw. Each chance Balto got he bit down on the paws of the bear when they went down. However, in this desperate struggle of surviving the onslaught, the wolfdog saw a chance for victory. When there was enough room, Balto got back up and made a quick bite on the bear's muzzle before running off a few feet away. Enraged, the bear charged after the wolfdog yet again, but when Balto dodge this time the bears ran straight off a cliff behind him. Looking back, Balto saw how after it survived the several foot tumble the bear gave up and left. Least the wolfdog now had a chance for a short breather.

"Balto?"

And thus Balto was faced with the impossible. Face to face with one of the very people that he never thought he'd see again. Someone that Balto didn't just see as his best friend, but as family.

"Littlefoot?"

 **End of Chapter 1**

 **A/N: Ten years ago I started a story with the simple idea of two of my favorite non-Disney animated movies meeting each other. Since then I had no idea how well-liked the story would become and have always wanted to expand upon it. Here's hoping that I can live up to the same standard that you all enjoyed from the original, and here's hoping that nothing throws a wrench into me finishing it for a prolonged period. Anyway, don't forget to enjoy and review. Till next time.**


	2. A Reunion Across Time

**The Time of Wolves 2**

 **Chapter 2: A Reunion Across Time**

Cold. That's how Littlefoot felt right now. The cold and a sense of utter confusion of where he and his friends were. How they got there. At one moment, they were all in the sunny paradise of the Great Valley playing games like they always did, and suddenly they wake up here in this strange land covered in 'white ground sparkles.' Sure, it was a sight to behold, but the gang knew from experience that soil covered in ground sparkles, or snow as Littlefoot learned from Balto, meant that the area must be freezing cold. They had to find shelter from the morning artic air. They were lucky to find a large cave so to hunker down and huddle against each other for warmth, but that did not last.

As the sun began to rise, something was moving to the entrance of their secluded cave. Something tall and slender was approaching them, which gave the gang a terrible freight, but Littlefoot's attention was taken by a smaller four-legged right next to the taller one. The shine from the sun obscured appearances of the figures, only giving off a silhouette, but that didn't stop Littlefoot from recognizing what four-legged figured resembled.

"Balto?"

Like that, the four-legged silhouette shot up in alert before screaming in terror and running off with the taller one chasing after. While everyone was discussing what to do now that their hiding space was discovered, Littlefoot was thinking about what he just saw. The four-legged figure was a canine of some sort. Wolf or dog, Littlefoot didn't know, but it was a canine. The little longneck was sure of that. Which means that the taller figure must be a human. If Balto's stories he told of his home were to be believed, could that mean they were in his word? Could they be in the future?

Whether that was true or not had to wait, for there were more pressing matters. They had decided to leave the cave and find shelter elsewhere in case the figures came back, much to Cera's annoyance. The rest of the day was spent exploring this new world they've found themselves in. Aside from the cold, this snow-covered landscape was quite beautiful; especially how the sun would reflect off the icicles on the trees which created a series of sparkling rainbows that shined around the area. It was also satisfying to learn that some of the trees here had plants still on them, so at least they wouldn't go hungry. The leaves were a lot tougher and pricklier than what the gang was used to, but it was better than nothing. However, one unforeseeable issue was that the days didn't last as long as in the Great Valley. The sun was already set at a time, back home, it would only be touching the mountain walls. They soon found shelter under some fallen logs and huddled up with one another for warmth during the night.

Littlefoot, however, couldn't sleep that night; he was too transfixed on what happened earlier that day, and an idea began to form. If this was Balto's time, then that must mean that he might live here. It wasn't a sound logic, but Littlefoot and his friends were a desperate situation. So, as his friends slept, Littlefoot snuck out on his own to search in the night. Again, not a sound strategy, but he was going on by emotion than anything else.

The truth was, he really missed Balto. The time they spent together was almost like no other. What would you expect when meeting a creature from the future? But from the moment they started talking to one another, they instantly became fast friends. It was to the point that Littlefoot convinced his grandparents to allow Balto to stay with them in their nest. Through Balto, Littlefoot was opened to a whole other world he never thought possible. Their time spent was so fun and eventful that when it came time for Balto to leave, Littlefoot was devasted. He didn't know why, but when Balto left, he felt like a piece him went as well. If there were a chance to see him again, Littlefoot was willing to take it. However, he was so caught up in his own thoughts that the little longneck ran into something; something fluffy and big. That something was a large grizzly bear, which roared in anger, scaring Littlefoot.

Littlefoot scurried away with the bear following after him. The little longneck found refuge within a hollow dead tree. The bear continued to try and get at Littlefoot as it attacked the hollow tree. Littlefoot, by now, was profoundly regretting his actions. Why didn't he just wait until morning and look for Balto with everyone else? He prayed for a miracle would come and save him from this monster. His prayers were answered as the bear stopped, and upon looking, Littlefoot saw another four-leg animal fighting off the beast. The battle lasted for a few minutes before the bear was sent tumbling over a cliff. Littlefoot exit the dead tree to meet his rescuer, only to run into a very familiar face.

"Balto?"

* * *

It was barely morning in the town of Nome, and hardly anyone was stirring, say for one. Kodi was walking through the barren streets with much on his mind. Yesterday, his father was behaving rather odd that day, and Kodi was quite worried, to be honest. It was simply meant to be a father-son bonding hunting after something that spooked one of the dogs. But as their little journey went on, Kodi noticed a change in Balto. At one moment, the wolfdog was as calm as ever to having his nerves were shaken. It was as if he saw the Wendigo, a creature the dog Caeser claimed was there, but refused to say what the issue was. Kodi left it at that, but it bugged him ever since.

However, his father, although an understanding person, could be quite stubborn at times. Kodi knew that he was going to need some help his he was to talk sense into Balto, and there was only one person who could do just that. The rust-colored husky stepping in front of a particular house and let out a low howl. After a few seconds of wait, out from the dog door, walked out his mother, Jenna.

"Kodi, what's the matter?" she yawned, "I thought you would be resting before you had to go back to work in a few days."

"I know mom. It's just I... well," Kodi found it hard to admit what he had to say, "I-it's about dad. He was acting very strange today after we went out into the woods, and... I'm worried about him." he waited for his mother's response but nothing, "I know it sounds dumb..."

"No, I understand," Jenna cut him off as she explained how she felt of the situation, "Yesterday, your father seemed distant. Like something was on his mind, but whatever it was he wouldn't tell me." her words gave Kodi much-needed conviction, "But also, he was acting rather strange since this morning as well. I couldn't help but notice that he was exhausted as well."

"Do you think it might be like..." Kodi stopped when he had to think about it, "...like what happened with Aleu?"

"I don't know," Jenna was beginning to worry at this point, "But there might be one person who does."

From there, Jenna led her son towards the beached fishing boat to meet with Balto. They were going to get answers straight from the horse's mouth. If there was indeed another Aleu situation, it was best to know beforehand. As they boarded the vessel, both were surprised that the wolfdog wasn't there. Try as they might, Balto was nowhere to be found. This, of course, did nothing to ease their minds of the worry they felt. They were about to panic until a familiar goose came in.

"What's all the racket out here! Can't a goose get his beauty rest!?"

"Boris!" Jenna, now half relieved, approached the old goose, "Have you seen Balto?"

"Balto?" Boris was rubbing his eyes. It was too early for him to deal with this, "He's right..." he was gesturing to where Balto usually sleeps only to spot an empty blanket, "Oh, um...I guess I don't know where he is."

"Boris, this is serious," Jenna said almost in a panic as she explained her worries.

Boris was scratching the top of his head as he pondered what was told to him, "Now that you mention it, Balto did seem awfully tired when he got back. Did remind me about when Aleu was born, but he snapped at me when I tried to bring it up."

"You don't think this could be connected, do you?" asked Jenna.

"I don't know. But I think there is one clue that could help," Boris waddled off to the chest, and from inside pulled a single leaf, "I catch Balto with this from time to time. Not sure why, but there must be something special about it."

Jenna looked at it and, to her amazement, the leaf was in the perfect shape of a star, "I've never seen a plant like this before." she took a sniff of it. Balto's scent was on it along with that of another; an unrecognizable one. Not just unrecognizable as of who, but of what. She never smelled such a scent in her life. It was enough to make her think, "Balto, what have you gotten yourself into?"

* * *

"Balto?"

"Littlefoot?"

The wolfdog and longneck stood there in absolute silence for what felt like an eternity. Moments of just them staring at one another as if this was all just a dream that they were hoping never to wake up from. They were just so in shock in seeing one another once again that it almost didn't seem real It had been months since they last saw each other, since they had become the best of friends, since they parted ways thinking they would never see the other ever again. After a moment of realizing that this was indeed not a dream, these two acted accordingly.

They freaked out in a fit of joy.

No joke, the wolfdog and little longneck bolted at each other and began playing in the snowy field. All the while, they were frantically saying to the other on how was this even possible, how they were so happy to see them again, and how they thought they wouldn't see each other again. Because of their jolt excitement, they were talking over each other while saying this, but they didn't care. As far as Balto and Littlefoot were concerned, they were together again. After things have calmed down did the two friends finally begin talking with Littlefoot starting out. The young longneck told Balto what had all happened in the Great Valley after he left. The adventure he and the gang have been on which included: saving the valley from a series of back luck, that they saved Ducky from some angry flyers with the help of Petrie's uncle, and how they survived a horrible snowstorm that hit the valley. Balto though, did not have anything so dramatic happen to him since then, so he just decided to tell what happened after returning home.

"...so, because I didn't find treestar until the next morning, Jenna was convinced that the whole thing was a dream." Balto said with a chuckle, "I'll admit, even I was almost convinced myself until I found it."

"It's so great to see you again, Balto." said Littlefoot, "The others will be so happy to see you." It was at that moment did Littlefoot realize he left his friends behind. He offered to show Balto the way which he was more than happy to see the rest of the gang again.

"So, tell me, Littlefoot, what are you doing here all alone?" Balto asked, "These woods can be pretty dangerous."

Littlefoot apologized profusely, "I guess I was just so excited to see you again that I wasn't thinking clearly."

"I can understand," Balto assured him, "I was kind of the same way when I discovered you guys' scent in that cave."

"Sorry about scaring that other dog."

"Ah, Ceasar will get over it, eventually."

Their walk continued for some while. The bear attack really helped Littlefoot lose his bearings for a second. However, with Balto's help, they were able to locate the logs that the gang was still resting under. Both parties couldn't wait to see the looks on the others' faces.

"Guys!" Littlefoot ran up to the logs, "Guys, come look who I found."

A low annoyed grumble could be heard from inside, "Can it wait till morning? Some of us are still tired."

Balto chuckled as he recognized the voice in question, "Glad to see some things never change, right Cera?"

There was a moment of silence before the young yellowish threehorn crawled out from under the logs. Her mouth was a gasped as she looked upon the wolfdog in front of her. To put it simply, Cera just couldn't believe her eyes. It wasn't long before a few others came out to see what the commotion was about.

"Balto!" cried Ducky as she raced to embrace the wolfdog.

Balto lowered his head so that Ducky could hug his muzzle, "It's good to see you too, Ducky."

As this was going on, something had perched itself on top of Balto's head. It didn't take a genius to know that this was Petrie, "Me missed you whole bunch." the flyer said in his iconic broken speech.

"I missed you too Petrie." once Balto said that he then being licked by the mute spiketail, "And you too, Spike."

For then, all the way past sunrise, the Balto and the dinosaur children stayed there catching up with one other. Despite reuniting after being months apart, it was as if no time had ever passed. They could spend the whole day like this, but that just wasn't so. This reunion had to end at some point. Balto's primary concern right now was to send these children home as quickly as possible. At first, the wolfdog assumed the cave in which he found their scent would be the place, but the kids shot that idea down as they told him that they woke up in an empty field. It also seemed that, just like when Balto was sent to the past, the gang had also lost whatever memory they had of the events that led them into this time. However, that would have to wait; there were more pressing matters to handle.

"Guys, we should get you all someplace safe," he said.

Cera just huffed, "Come on Balto. You know we can take care of ourselves just fine."

"Maybe so. But you're not in the Great Valley anymore, and this is no longer the world you knew," Balto warned them all, "Here there are dangers the like that you've never seen before. Littlefoot, here, almost got mauled by a bear while out looking for me." Littlefoot winced in fear as he remembered the encounter, "And that's not all. We're slowly approaching the end of winter, or as you guys call it 'the cold times,' and out here, the weather can be just as dangerous as any predator. The temperature can get way below freezing, and blizzards that can rage enough to blind you from where you're going if not bury you under the snow." he realized he was laying it on a little thick, but he needed them to understand the dangers his world provides, "Listen. I know you all probably just want to go home right now. Believe me, I understand how that feels. All that I'm saying is that I trusted you guys when I was in your time, so please trust me while you're in mine. I promise I'll look after all of you until we can figure something out."

Littlefoot was first to step up, "I trust you, Balto." It did Balto's heart good to hear that.

"We'll gladly go with you. Yep, yep, yep." Ducky answered as she got on top of Spike signifying that she was ready to go.

As for Petrie, he was already perched on Balto's head, so that was enough of an answer. That only left the suborn threehorn girl in front of them.

"Fine." Cera sighed in defeat, "What did you have in mind?"

Balto smiled, knowing that he had the trust of his young friends, "I know a place where you can stay, but it'll be a bit of a walk from. Better get started while the sun is still up."

So, the wolfdog and his young dinosaur friends set off through the dense forest. As Balto had said, the walk was taking a good deal of time out of the day. It was to be expected as the young ones have been initially traveling aimlessly before Balto had found them. They only took one quick break so the kids could eat and drink; even if the plants were not up to their liking. While their journey continued, Balto couldn't help but wonder why they were here. When Balto went to the past, it was done because of the spirit of Littlefoot's mother, so that he could fend off the Horned Sharptooth. What possible reason would there need to be for a bunch of dinosaur children into the present? By the time they reached their destination, it was already past noon once stopping at the forest's edge. In the distance, the children could barely make out the small town of Nome.

"Well, here it is." Balto announced, "My home."

The kids looked off in awe. In the distance, they could catch a glimpse of those self-made caves that Balto called house. At last, they were seeing a hint of the future that Balto once told them about. It was almost too much to take in. To now be able to see all the inventions that made would make humans do almost anything fascinated them like no other.

"Well, let's get going already." said Cera beginning to set foot out of the treeline.

"Whoa, there!" Balto exclaimed as he moved in front of her, "We're not actually going into the town."

There was a collective moan of disappointment from the group.

"But why not?" Littlefoot asked.

"Guys, dinosaurs no longer exist in this time," Balto explains, "Remember what happened with Caesar? If any human sees you, they would probably freak out and, like many creatures, they might retaliate out of fear."

"But you can tell them we're good, right, Balto?" asked Ducky.

Balto sighed as it seemed he needed to give them a refresher course on humans, "That's not possible. Humans speak in a language completely different from us. Though I understand it, I can't speak it. If they try to attack you guys with their guns, I don't think there would be much I can do to protect you."

The group silently agreed. They remembered what guns were, the sticks that shoot fire, and how humans use them for hunting. The way Balto described them all those months ago still sends shivers up their spines. That all you hear is the sound of a bang as loud as thunder and anything unfortunate to be in front of the spitting fire would end up severely injured if not dead. It was enough for them to want to stay clear of such a thing.

"So then where are we going to go?" Cera asked.

"See the structure on the beach?" Balto gestured over to his boat, "That's where I live. My 'nest' if you prefer. That'll be where we're staying until we can figure things out."

Balto had the kid follow him to his boat in a route to keep them out of sight of Nome. As they were moving, Balto was willing to answer any question about their new living arrangements. Ducky was particularly excited once learning how boats were one of the inventions that humans use to swim. When it came to if they would be safe for them to still be living so close to Nome, Balto assured them that is well isolated from the town. Humans rarely come out here, especially this time of year. It would be like 'hiding in place sight' as Balto put it. This conversation continued as they were circling around the boat.

"Aside from me, only a few other ever come out here," he said as he was about to turn the corner behind the stern to the starboard side, "I'll have to introduce you guys to them first though. Don't want them to freak out when they..."

"Freak who out, Balto?"

The wolfdog stopped dead in his track by the voice of none other than his wife, Jenna. It was then that Balto notices the scene that was in front of him. On top of the plank leading up to the boat at Boris with his wings crossed, looking as deadpan serious as he always does. Kodi stood at the bottom of the plank looking concerned. However, the one stood out the most was Jenna. The rust-colored husky took front and center with a face filled with more anger than he's ever seen, and that says a lot since she used to deal with Steele's constant flirting. Balto could feel himself practically shrinking under his mate's stern gaze. It took a lot of willpower for him to see that the kids he was escorting had already hidden behind the boat's stern without anyone noticing them. All and all, this day was turning out to be a whirlwind of unexpected meetups.

"Balto?" Jenna stepped forward, "Where have you been!?"

"Jenna, I..."

"Do you know what time it is!?" she howled before Balto could finish, "Kodi and I have been waiting here for you since before morning! Do you have any idea how worried we were!?"

Balto was not surprised but still taken back by her outburst, "Uh Boris," he turned to his goose friend, "Can you help me out here?"

The old goose just threw his wings up with his head shaking, "Sorry boychik, but you're on your own on this one."

It was then that Kodi spoke up, "Dad, we're just concerned."

"He's right," said Jenna who has since calmed down from her outburst, and now spoke much softer, "You haven't been acting like yourself lately. You've been standoffish, irritable, secretive, and now disappearing into the night. We thought you may have been..." Jenna started to choke up at the mere thought of losing her mate, "We're just worried is all. Something's going on with you, and we just want to help. Please, Balto, just tell us what's going on."

Balto averted his gaze from his mate in a bit of shame. He knew full well that Jenna had every right to worry. Not but a few months ago, when Balto was in the past for over a week, Jenna had been told by Kodi how Balto fell into a river and was sent over a waterfall. For hours his mate spent in anxiety over her mate's fate. When he finally returned, it was a huge relief off of her; she wouldn't let him out of her sights for weeks. So, his little disappearing act must have really brought those anxieties back to the surface.

He did this to her, and it made him feel just awful. He loved Jenna with everything fiber of his being. The last thing he would ever want to do was harm her in any shape or form. Balto had to make things right with her, and he knew just how to do just that.

"It's a bit hard to explain," he said, "So, I'll show you." Balto moved back to see Littlefoot and the gang still hiding behind the ship, "Come on out, it's okay."

Hesitantly, the group walked out from behind the ship and revealed themselves to the group before them. To say that two other dogs and goose were surprised to see these strange – unknown creatures was an understatement. Aside from Jenna and Kodi, who was in shock at the sight of them, Boris almost fell off the plank out of being completely dumbfounded. Needless to say, an awkward silence fell over both parties; neither knowing how to proceed from this point.

Balto, seeing this, stood by his mate, "Come on. I'll introduce you," he helps walk the still stunned Jenna over to the dinosaurs, "Guys, this is my mate, Jenna. Jenna, this is Littlefoot..."

"Littlefoot? You're Littlefoot?" Jenna asked the young longneck dinosaur who answered with a nod, "Then that means..." she began listing off the names of each of the gang with precise accuracy. It made Balto grin to see that his mate had remembered those details in his 'dream,' "They're real. They're all real." after getting over the shock of being face-to-face with dinosaurs to face Balto, "You... you really did travel to the past." Balto gave her a nod.

"Um… Mrs. Jenna ma'am," Littlefoot spoke while trying to act as polite as possible to this new individual who just went through a massive outburst, "Balto went out into the forest to help us. It was our fault. I'm sorry."

Jenna, still trying to get over the initial shock of being face-to-face with dinosaurs, couldn't find herself getting angry at the child before her, "It's quite alright. I was just worried is all. I'm just glad he's safe and… oh my God, look at me, I'm talking to a dinosaur." Jenna still had a hard time racking her head around this fact, "Real living – breathing dinosaurs."

"What else would you've expected?" Cera retorted.

During this whole exchange, however, Boris and Kodi were still sitting back where they were. Both entirely dumbfounded by what was unfolding in front of them.

"Am I the only one who is lost at what's going on here?"

"You and me both Uncle Boris."

Balto was quick to motion Kodi over, "This is my son, Kodi." He presented once the younger husky was right next to him, "And the old grouch still on the boat is Boris."

"Hello!" Ducky happily said to Balto's son, "I really like yours and Jenna's fuzz color. Yep, yep, yep!"

"Uh… thanks," Kodi was still perplexed by the scene in front of him, "Dad, since when did you make friends with dinosaurs?"

"Remember that race we had a few months ago?"

From there, Balto proceeded to tell Boris and Kodi all that really happened that day of the accident. Of his journey through the past, to his life and the Great Valley, and so on. The children also chimed in as well to give a better perspective. Naturally, Kodi and Boris were still baffled by what they just heard.

"You would have me believe that you traveled through time, fought vicious beast, saved an entire valley, and was just back mere moments after you left?"

"Well, the proof is right in front of you, Boris," said Balto, "Don't know what else to tell you."

Kodi whispered to his mother, "Mom, you knew about all this?"

"I just assumed it was a dream he had. How was I supposed to know any of it was real?"

Despite all the confusion from his own family, Balto was just glad to the groups meeting one another, "Well, that should be everybody. Oh, except for…"

"BALTO!"

The next thing the wolfdog knew was being tackled by two white – puffy blobs. The young dinosaurs alarmed by the sudden on their friend until they saw that one of the bigger blobs was actually hugging Balto. These two creatures were actually Muk and Luk; two polar bears who also lived with Boris and Balto. The two were, for lack of a better term, abandoned by their fellow bear when they very young. Despite being twins, Muk's growth has stunted, making him shorter than Balto and was very talkative. Luk, on the other hand, grew to surpass Balto in height and spoke in whimpers that only his bother could understand. Really the only thing the two had in common was their playful demeanor. That, and their love for their Uncle Boris and their foster brother, Balto.

"We're are so worried Balto. When Uncle Boris said you were missing, Luk and I began searching high and low for you. We searched the boat, the beach, inside the boat, the old mill, the boat again, further out on the beach..." Muk continued talking a mile a minute until Balto escaped Luk's bear hug.

"Guys, I'm fine." Balto said before giving the bear's attention to the gang, "In fact, I was just introducing everyone to some old friends."

Thus, another round of introductions occurred for the two polar bears. Were they shocked to have now met dinosaurs? Not really. They were just excited at the prospect of making new friends to play with. Which, after this long stressful day, wasn't a bad idea. So, that's just what they did. A few much-needed games around the beach was just what the doctor ordered for the group. Even Kodi, who was hesitant to being around dinosaurs, decided to throw caution to the wind and join in on the fun. If his father trusted them, then that was good enough for him, and they were just kids, after all. Kids who were taken from their world and now forced to be in another, so it was best to make them feel welcome. As the day was slowly winding to a close, Balto sat out the rest of the games and sat with Jenna by his boat.

"A very energetic lot, aren't they?" Jenna asked her mate.

"You have no idea." Balto laughed as they continued to watch the other playing a game of tag along the water.

"I just still can't believe my eyes," Jenna was starting to become giddy like a schoolgirl, "I just met real dinosaurs."

"Yeah. I think you mentioned that three times now."

"Can you blame me?" she asked, "It just that... well... they're... they're dinosaurs!"

"Four." such a smart-aleck comment deserved a playful nudge from his mate.

"So, do you think this is what it all meant?" Jenna asked which brought the mood down, "That your dream was trying to tell you about them?"

"Possibly," Balto said. He was relieved that the kids too far to hear their conversation, "The voice in my dream said 'come find me,' and those kids were the only thing that was lost out in the wood." It was merely wishful thinking on his part. If he were honest, the voice in his dream unrecognizable to him, and sent shivers down his spine.

"So, what do we do about them?"

It was precisely what Balto was pondering as well, "I don't know. When I was sent back it was so I could protect the Great Valley from the Horned Sharptooth. No idea what would be going on that children are needed, but something's happening out there." he then looked back at the kids playing with his family, and his heart ached. They may be happy now, but Balto knew that it would only be a matter of time before they start feeling homesick like he did. It might even be worse considering they were only children, "Until then, it's only right that we offer them a home here."

"Glad you made that decision without consulting me first." said Boris, who was the only one who didn't join in on the fun. He was more concerned about cleaning the deck of the boat.

"Oh come on, Boris," Balto halfheartedly begged, "You can't tell me you're not happy about the prospect of having kids around here again."

"How can I when I already have three living here, 24/7?" Boris responded, "One who can't stop going on life-threatening adventures, two who refuse to grow up, and yet all three can't stop giving me heart attacks!"

As fun as things were, the day was finally coming to a close. The sun had set, the stars were coming out, and it was time for little ones to get some sleep. As the kids returned, Balto was quick to let them in on their new living arrangements from this point on. Thankfully, Boris checked the chest and found enough extra blankets to go around. Now that everything was set up, it was time for the two house dogs to return to town.

"Bye Kodi," Ducky said as she hugged the husky's leg, "Thanks for playing with us."

This little display was almost too much for Kodi to handle, "You are beyond adorable." which earned him a lick from her Spike.

Jenna was giggling at the scene in front of her, "I have to be going too. Rosy is probably worried about being gone all day." she faced the dinosaur, "It was nice getting to meet all of you." Sadly she spoke with an unintentional shyness before she left.

"Is it just me, or does she not like us?" Cera assumed.

"She's still trying to get used to all of this," Balto came in defense of his mate, "She'll come around."

Balto then ushered all remaining party into the boat. The wolfdog explained how it gets freezing cold some nights, and that the blankets provided would help protect them from the elements. Naturally, even with the sheets, it was still reasonably cold throughout the night. The gang remedied this by snuggling up against each other again, or to more accurate against their fluffy friends. A rough night sleep to be for sure, but at least they were all safe.

"Balto," Littlefoot whispered as to not disturb anyone else, "Thank you for letting us stay with you."

"Don't mention it Littlefoot," Balto said with a yawn, "I'm just happy that we get to see each other again."

The two friends curled up against one another for the night. Sure, some great danger may be on the horizon but, whatever it was, they will face it together. Balto knew that with these kids, there was nothing they couldn't accomplish. Now, though, it was time for some well needed peaceful sleep.

* * *

Balto found himself wandering through the dense forest. However, there was something different about the area from the last time he was in it. Taking a further look, it was clear that the forest was frozen, and not that the covered in snow. Everything, from the trees and rocks, was all completely frozen over. The whole area was a dead ice-filled wasteland. There was simply no sign of life anywhere.

Or at least that's what Balto thought at first. Further along, the wolfdog could make out a figure in the distance. It was hard to make out, but it looked familiar. Moving closer, Balto realized this figure was an old looking male wolf. No, not just any wolf. Balto recognized this old wolf from over a year ago. But before he could say anything, pillars of ice burst from the ground. These pillars quickly grabbed hold of the old wolf and pulled him under the icy floor. The last thing Balto heard was that same eerie voice from before.

" _Come find me, or_ _ **she**_ _dies!"_

 **End of Chapter 2**

 **A/N: Well, this took some time to come out. Let me start by saying I'm sorry for taking this long; work has been getting in the way as of late. If anything, I hope that it won't take too long to finish the next chapter. However, if you all need anything to pass the time, I've been writing another Balto crossover as well (** **Balto-and-Star-Wars-Rebels-Crossovers/2149/11795/)** **. Plus, another Q &A forum(** **topic/69617/176943115/1/Time-of-Wolves-2-Q-A)** **. Till then, see you next time.**


	3. An Adventuring We Will Go

**The Time of Wolves 2**

 **Chapter 3: An Adventuring We Will Go**

In the small-town Nome. All were asleep, including those that owned the house where Jenna lived. After such a long, stressful, and yet pretty extraordinary day, the husky deserved a sweet, peaceful night sleep. Though such a task was easier said than done. The poor dog has just had the shock of her life, she had met real living dinosaurs. Not even that but, as it turns out, her mate knew these young dinosaurs personally. Memories had filled Jenna's head about how Balto told her such months ago, but it all sounded so ridiculous. Being sent back in time, making friends with dinosaurs, and being there for over a week when only being gone for a few hours. It was all a bit much to wrap her head around. So much so that she really didn't get a chance to interact with the kids that much. Jenna mostly spent that day trying to get a grip on the whole situation. It was as if her entire reality was turning upside down.

Perhaps sleep would help alleviate mental stress. Alas, sleep still did not come easy. The husky would toss and turn in her small bed throughout the night. At one point, it would seem that she found an ample position to guarantee some rest. However, that was not to last. From Rosy's room, Jenna heard a crash coming from the family shed. Curious as to what would be wandering around at this time of night, Jenna got up and snuck out of the house to investigate. When she reached the door, Jenna was met with the sight of a familiar longneck dinosaur covered in all sorts of rubbish.

"Littlefoot?!" Jenna was surprised that the dinosaur was here. She also tried to contain her amusement at seeing the attics he got himself into.

"Sorry. I was coming to see you, but I saw this wooden box and got curious," he said while continuing to look through the stuff inside, "Is it true humans made all of this?"

Consequently, all his curiosity was causing quite a ruckus with pots, shovels, and whatnot falling over by accident, "Littlefoot, stop! Someone's gonna hear!"

Jenna looked to the house and breathed a sigh of relief as the lights in the master bedroom remained off. Good, the Mr. and Mrs. were still sound asleep. Who knows how they would react, waking up to a dinosaur in their shed. Though she could guess the outcome would not be pretty. Now, with Littlefoot's journey into the tool shed being sated, Jenna could get down to the matter at hand.

"Littlefoot, what were you thinking? It's dangerous for you to be here, you've could've been seen!" Jenna exclaimed, "Does Balto know you're here?"

"Um…" he was going to respond but was met with a stern look from Jenna. It was a look that he recognized from his grandma. A look that warned to not even think about lying, "No."

Oh well, it couldn't be helped. The damage was already done. It was a miracle that nobody was awake to noticed a dinosaur prowling through the streets. The best thing to do was to try to sneak him out of town. A task that was easier than it sounds considering it was close to morning and the sun would be up soon. With haste, Jenna hatched up a plan as she went into the shed to pull out a huge tarp and threw it over the young sauropod. Several minutes were then spent with Jenna directing Littlefoot's posture to better make her plan work. She had his head lowered, stand up straight, feet close together.

"Okay," Jenna was admiring her handiwork, "With any luck we… might be able to fool people that you're a dog. So long as no one lifts up the tarp."

"Jenna, this feels weird."

"I know sweetie," Jenna, sympathizing with the child's plight, walked right up next to him, "Just try to bear with it for now. Don't worry, you can lean off of me until we make it out." the two began there walking before Jenna notice something about the snowy ground behind them, "You might also want to use your tail to cover your tracks."

Little did they know, several blocks away, Dingo was wandering the streets. No particular reason really; he just felt like a walk is all. As the rust-colored husky was walking through the darkened town, he spotted his sister, Saba, laying on the front porch of her home. Odd enough for sure. However, he could help but notice how she was visibly pouting. For those who knew her would know that seeing this happy-go-lucky hyperactive husky in a bad mood was a rarity. So, being the oh so good big brother he was, Dingo went over to see what's what.

"Hey Saba," he greeted his sister who said nothing, "Why the long face?" she answered with some incoherent mumbling, "My first sister, practically speechless? Hell must be freezing over right now. What happened Saba? Last I saw you were excited about going on a special walk with your boy."

At last, Saba spoke with the most irritable voice she could muster, "Apparently 'special walk' is code for 'we're going to the vet!'" Dingo winced when he heard that one compound word, "I could've been out Wendigo hunting with Kodi and papa, but instead I get a thermometer shoved up my butt! So, in protest of this embarrassment and betrayal, I've been staying out here for twenty-four hours to spite my humans."

Dingo's eyes rolled at her antics. Saba does this every time she had to visit the vet, and every time Dingo had to get her out of this funk, "Did you at least get some sausage?"

Just like that, Saba's frown turned upside down, and started drooling, "Yeah. It was delicious."

Not a hard ordeal, for sure, just annoying that he had to do this so often. Just the perks of having such an oddball of a sister. Speaking of odd, Dingo saw his mother, Jenna, sneaking between the empty streets with a figure wrapped in a tarp walking beside her. This was far too interesting for the eldest pup to pass up, so he went to investigate. Saba, who now forgotten all about her 'plight' and noticed that her brother was leaving, followed after him in hopes that it would lead to something fun.

"Hey mom!" the idea of her sneaking was justified as she practically jumped out of her skin.

"Dingo, you startled me."

That was obvious to him, "What's going on, mom?" Dingo looks to the figure under the tarp and soon got very protective of his mother, "Who's this?" he asked with a slight growl in his voice.

"This…?" Jenna thought quick as she had to get out before the townspeople woke up, "It's just Kodi." she had a shy smile when she said that.

"Hey momma," Saba came over already hearing what was going on, "Why's Kodi dressed like a creepy stalker?"

Jenna was struggling to come with more lies, "He's not feeling so well right now."

"What happened?" Dingo asked before going back to being the snarky big brother he was to Kodi, "Did Runt get scared looking for Wendigos?"

"It's rather embarrassing. We're going to see your father in case he can help," Jenna said which was the excuse she could come up with, "Also you, Dingo, should apologize for growling at Kodi. You know how much I hate it when you pups get aggressive with each other."

Dingo lowered his head to avoid his mother's gaze, "Sorry Runt." What looked to be a head under the tarp started nodding in agreement.

"Now, if you excuse me, we need to go." Jenna was then pushing Littlefoot out of there as fast as possible.

It wasn't long before Dingo left the area as well, "I swear our parents' baby that runt." he said under his breath with a huff.

Saba was all that was left as she watched her family walk off in opposite directions. Her attention, however, was soon drawn to the ground, or to be more accurate, what was imprinted into the snow, "Did Kodi's feet get bigger?"

* * *

Back with Jenna and Littlefoot, the two quickened their pace through the Nome. That little run-in with her two other children had severely delayed their departure, so they needed to haul it before the sun rose up. Jenna knew that some humans would start their day before the brink of dawn, so time was of the essence. Lucky for them no other distraction came from then on as the two made it outside the town limit.

Once she was sure they were in the clear, Jenna removed the tarp off of the little longneck. Littlefoot was relieved, for keeping up that charade was quite killer on his feet. Now, he could walk back with Jenna to the boat regularly. There was an awkward silence in the air for as Jenna was throwing away the tarp. Littlefoot was somewhat uneasy as he assumed that he had angered the female husky. Perhaps it would best to try and put her mind off the whole thing.

"Were… were those two also your kids?" he asked.

"Huh?" Jenna wasn't entirely paying attention since she was busy burying the tarp in the snow, "Oh, yes. Those were Dingo and Saba the two oldest of Balto and my pups. I would've introduced you properly if we weren't in such a hurry. Speaking of which, what were you doing sneaking into town again?"

So much for getting her mind off the subject, "I-I was coming to see you."

"And this couldn't wait until morning because?" Jenna tried to urge Littlefoot into talking but could see how nervous he was to tell. She let out a deep breath to calm herself, "Littlefoot, I won't get mad, or tell Balto for that matter, so long as your honest with me. So, please tell me why you wanted to see me?"

"Well, I thought…" Littlefoot was clearly embarrassed by this whole ordeal, "I thought you didn't like me or any of my friend."

"What ever gave you that idea?"

"It's just something Cera said," Littlefoot admitted, "She said how the way you were acting when around us seemed like you didn't want to be near us. Like you couldn't wait to leave."

Now it was all becoming clear to Jenna. Looking back, it would be easy to misinterpret her actions as stuck-up, especially from a child's perspective. Jenna had to remind herself that even though this kid was slightly taller than her that he was still just that, a kid. She knew well enough that being faced with any signs of rejection, even if unintentional, could be hard for a child to go through.

"Oh, Littlefoot, I'm so sorry." Jenna gave the little longneck comforting nuzzle on his cheek, "I never meant to come off that way. I'm just still getting used to all of this. I don't know what Balto told you about me, but I'm not nearly as adventurous as him. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he took the whole being sent to the past a lot better than I ever could." Jenna giggled at how she wondered just how Balto reacted to being in the past, "In all honesty, I'm really thankful of you."

"Really?"

"Well, of course. If it weren't for you, I would probably never have seen Balto ever again!" she said, "You know, when he told me about all of you and what happened to him, I didn't believe him. I mean, how could I? For me, he was only missing for a few hours, and it was all such an outlandish story that I had to assume it was all a dream. You have to understand that, next to my pups, Balto is very dear to me. If anything had happened to him while he was there, I don't know what I would do. Probably just sit on the porch waiting aimlessly for him to come home. I would never have known." Jenna's eyes were on the verge of watering with the thought of losing Balto, "When Balto came back, he told me all about you and how your family took him in. That you all took care of him. So, I just want to thank you for helping him come back to me, and I'm sorry I didn't convey that earlier." she leaned into Littlefoot's and pressed her hand along his shoulder and a makeshift hug.

The young longneck knew this thus wrapped his long neck around her back in his own form of embrace. They stood there holding each other as Littlefoot let out a smile. Not because she conformed about not disliking him, but because he finally saw the Jenna he's heard so much about. He could remember the days when Balto was still living on the Great Valley that he would tell Littlefoot about his mate and how lovely she was. The way he talked about her reminded Littlefoot about his own mother and always hoped to meet her. Now he officially was, and she was precisely how Balto had described her: kind, gentle, loving, and warm.

After a while, Jenna broke the hug and proceeded to swat the tears away with her paw, "I didn't mean to get so emotional on you. We should get going before Balto wakes up."

Thus, they were on their way to the boat. Just about time, for the sky was beginning to light up with the coming dawn. They quickly worked on getting to the old fishing boat, but not before seeing familiar tired wolfdog stretching off the bow of the ship before walking off the plank as Littlefoot and Jenna approached.

"Good morning, dear." she greeted.

It was then that Balto noticed his mate, "Morning Jenna," he said sleepily that he almost didn't even see the little longneck right next to her, "Littlefoot? What are you doing up so early?"

At first, Littlefoot thought he was in trouble until Jenna jumped in, "He was with me, Balto. When I got here, the poor dear was thirsty, so I took him out to get him a drink. Honestly, it was no trouble at all."

"Oh, okay."

Balto was obviously too tired to even question it. While the wolfdog let out a big yawn, Jenna gave Littlefoot a sly wink. From this point, Littlefoot knew that Jenna was true to her word in not telling what really happened, thus walked back up the plank as his friends would wake up soon. He'll also make sure to let Cera know that her thoughts of Jenna being 'stuck up' were just nothing but false. This was good, as it allowed Jenna to talk privately with her beloved mate.

"Balto, you look so tired," she said worryingly once seeing how heavy his eyes still looked, "It's the dreams again, isn't it?"

There was no use getting past his mate, "Yeah," Balto stretched out again before continuing, "They're getting worse." he then told her what happened in the dream included the voice still saying, ' _Come find me!_ ' but neglected to tell her the whole, ' _or_ _ **she**_ _dies!_ ' fearing that the voice may have been threatening Jenna.

"Was there anything that in there that could help?" Jenna asked.

"Yes. The wolf." Balto said for dead sure, "The wolf who appeared in my dream was Nava. I just know it." he again stretched his neck out, "As soon as I'm a bit more awake, I'll go talk to him. See if there's anything he knows about all of this."

The fact that Balto was about to go out on another adventure so soon troubled Jenna, "Do you even know where he is?"

"I know someone who does."

"And what of the kids?" Jenna dropped that little bombshell on her mate, "Last you saw Nava it was at least a day's journey away. What are they going to do while you're gone?"

"I'm sure that Boris can hold down the fort while I'm gone," he said.

"You really haven't thought this through," Jenna could easily see this was all a last-second decision, "Boris has enough of his hands full when it comes to Muk and Luk. I can't watch them for that long because Rosy will get so worried to have her parents look for me, and two guesses of where's the first place they'll look. Besides, no one here knows these kids better than you. They need you here and now."

Balto knew in she was right, but he also knew this was the best chance to get a lead on how to help his dinosaur friends, "I know, Jenna. But I also made a promise to get them home, and this could be it. Don't you see? I have to go."

"Go! Go where!"

The two canine's gaze turned upwards as they could see no other than Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and Boris staring down on them from the boat's railing. It would appear that Littlefoot, in the boredom of waiting, decided to check on what was keeping Balto so long. Well, his timing couldn't have been more perfect. Now everyone was looking to Balto to see what was going on. The wolfdog turned to his mate for some advice, but all he got from her was one solitary look. He didn't need words to know that it said, ' _You're the one who decided to take responsibility, so you should tell them._ ' So, he took a deep breath before he broke this awkward silence.

"Listen, everyone, I've got some good news, and I've got some bad news," Balto said, "Good news, I think I know someone who can get you kids home." The children were practically overjoyed to hear this, "Bad news is that he doesn't live close by, so I might be gone for a bit."

"How long is a bit?" Cera asked with suspicion.

There was a pregnant pause before Balto answered, "Two days."

No surprise, there were many protests to this. It was clear that the children were none too pleased with this whole ordeal. Spike was utterly confused by the entire situation. Ducky and Petrie couldn't help but feel a sense of abandonment. Cera, though she wouldn't admit it, didn't like to be in this strange land any longer then she had to. Littlefoot was just upset that Balto had to leave so shortly after being reunited with him. Each and every one of them voicing their disapproval all at once. None caring in the slightest if they were talking over one another. Balto was almost overwhelmed by the arguing children, and it didn't help that Jenna had this 'I told you so' look on her face.

"Balto!" Boris glides down to meet the wolfdog face-to-face, "You can't leave me to take care of seven kids by myself."

"Boris, there's only five of them." Balto corrects him.

"You know very well where I got that number!"

"Guys, I know this is all out of the blue, but It's only for two days," Balto tried to reason with them, "I'll be there and back as quick as possible."

"But we were hoping to spend more time with you." said Ducky.

Littlefoot then spoke up, "We haven't seen you for such a long time, and now you're going to leave us behind?"

Balto was at a loss for words. He knew that he was disappointing these kids, but what was the wolfdog to do. As much as Balto would love to spend as much time with them, his main goal was to get them all back home to their families. He had a responsibility to these kids after all. Jenna, however, could see how this was eating her mate up inside. She knew Balto better than anyone and knew that all he really wanted to do was help them in whatever way he can. Even if he ends up getting in over his head. So, being ever supportive, step up to help.

"Why not take them with you?" she said. "Give them a chance to see just how different our time is to theirs." Balto was about to retort, but then the children suddenly went from disappointed murmurs to cries of excitement. Jenna knew she was on the right track, so she whispered into Balto's ear, "Besides, you said they were brought here for a reason. This might be your best chance to figure that out."

"Alight. Alight!" Balto said to both answer his mate and to quiet down the children, "If it makes everybody happy, you can come with me."

The children were ecstatic to hear that they were going to go on one of Balto's adventures. To go out and explore this brand-new world. It was a lot to take in, and they were all more than ready to go this very second. But their little journey would have to wait for only a bit, for it was early, and no one has had a chance to have any breakfast. So, Balto instructed Boris to take the dinosaur over to woods to eat and to make sure to keep them out of view of the town just in case.

In the meantime, Balto and Jenna stayed where they were. After all, Balto just bought himself a few minutes rest before he had to leave. Jenna, on the other hand, went on the boat and searched through his chest for something to eat. Being the town's hero dog brought with it quite a few benefits. Such of which is free jerky for life. Over the years, Balto had always made sure to store enough to ensure he wouldn't go hungry for any given week. Grabbing some in her mouth, Jenna went back down so that the two may eat together like they were sure to do every morning.

"You know, it could be dangerous out there?" Balto asked while enjoying his jerky, "You sure it's a good idea for me to bring them?"

"Maybe." Jenna answered, "Which is why I like knowing that you're not out there all on your own."

Balto chuckled as what his mate was insinuating, "Oh, so they're supposed to be looking after me."

"Well, why not?" Jenna was playing coy, "If memory serves me, you said that if it weren't for them, then you wouldn't have defeated that Horned Sharptooth."

Balto then gave her a cheeky smile of his own, "I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you. I just need to remember what that was." such a remarkable was enough to earn a hard shove from the now pouting Jenna, "Joking! I was joking. But seriously, what would I do without you?"

"Almost get eaten by a bear." She said bluntly.

* * *

"…and that's the story of how I ended up in Nome."

Boris finished his little tale to the children soon after arriving at the wood. For several minutes now, the old goose had entertained the young dinosaurs as they ate. Dear lord, were they ever such a curious bunch, but Boris obliged to keep their interest peaked for the time being. It at least helps keep the kids focus away from the bitter-tasting leaves they were still forced to make do with. Oh, they couldn't wait until getting back to the Great Valley any sooner to have their regular food.

"That was amazing, Mr. Boris. Yep, yep, yep." Ducky exclaimed.

"Yeah," said Petrie, who was gnawing on one of these bitter leaves, "No wonder you so scared of flying."

Boris momentarily slapped his wing over his eyes in embarrassment. Of course, Balto would tell them about his fear of heights. It didn't help much when the yellow threehorn was snickering at his discomfort.

"So, you knew Balto for a really long time, right?" asked Littlefoot.

"Yes. Not long after I came to Nome in fact," Boris answered, "Back then he was only just a little thing, probably a bit younger than you kids are now, all alone and starving. I still have the marks from when he tried to take a bite out of me."

It was then that Cera spoke up, "What happened to his parents?"

Boris tapped his lowered beak as he pondered that question, "I don't know. He doesn't really like talking about it. All I know is that his mother just disappeared without a trace when he was little."

Hearing this put Littlefoot's mind into question. Now he already knew about the fate of Balto's parents, for the wolfdog told him about them in private. The thing that got Littlefoot thinking, however, was how Boris said that his mother disappeared when Balto straight up said to the young longneck that she was dead. He didn't think much of it at the time since Balto was letting a lot out by recount the story but then remembered how the wolfdog said the day his mother left to find food was the last he ever saw her. So, how did Balto come to the conclusion of his mother's ultimate fate? Why not assume that she could still be out there, somewhere, looking for him? Littlefoot didn't know why he was so concerned about this little detail. Maybe he was thinking about this too hard. It's not like such detail was essential or anything, right?

As soon as their bellies were all full, Boris led them back to the boat. Once again, the gang took the same route around behind the old ship as they did yesterday, and just in time. Balto and Jenna had also finished with their breakfast. Balto was still a bit nervous about these new arrangements, he knew deep down there was nothing to fear. These children have been through many dangerous situations before and always seemed to make it out on top. Perhaps it was that old parental instinct kicking in once again. He was responsible for them, after all, it was only natural that he would feel worried. But now, it was ever more apparent that Balto could not delay this venture any longer.

"Well, I guess if there are no further delays, we can begin heading out." Balto announced.

"It's about time," said Boris quite unexpectedly, "I thought we never get this show on the road."

Balto paused in confusion, "Wait, you're coming?"

"Yeah. Well, its been a while since I last been on an adventure." the old goose answered.

"And the last one ended with you being in a plane crash." Balto said bluntly.

"Details, details." Boris brushed the statement away, "Besides you would need help looking after these children. After all, who helped you raise your own pups when they were little?"

"Jenna." Balto said with a completely deadpan expression.

"Well, of course, get technical," Boris said frustratingly, "But who else was there to help raise them?"

"Rosy."

Boris just slapped his wing against his face knowing full well that Balto was teasing him. Finally, after giving up, the goose pulled Balto in for whisper, "Alright. Truth is, is that I'm going nuts over here waiting for Stella to come back from migration, and I need something to do to keep my mind off of it. Plus I could use a break from those pesky bears."

Balto sighed to himself, "If you insist."

"Don't worry Boris," said Jenna, "I'll find a way to keep Muk and Luk busy while you're gone."

"Oh, bless you, Jenna." Boris thank her as he joined the dinosaurs.

Seeing that the gang was more than ready, Balto faced Jenna one last time, "You know what the say: the quicker we leave faster we can get back."

"Then you better get going," she said, "You know I hate it when you're gone for too long."

The two canines soon nuzzled each other affectionately. Once they broke it, Balto led everyone else off into the wood. Most of the gang bid the reddish husky a farewell, all except for one. Littlefoot lagged behind so that he could have one last word with Jenna.

"Goodbye, Jenna. Thanks for convincing Balto to let us join him."

"Don't mention it, Littlefoot. However, I'll admit, my reasons were mostly selfish." Jenna's words left Littlefoot confused, "You saw how Balto was earlier. He always thinks he has to carry the world on his shoulders because he's afraid to be a burden on others. But, in my experience, that's usually when he needs somebody by his side the most. So, please Littlefoot, look after him for me."

"I will."

Littlefoot gave Jenna another quick hug, which she gladly accepted and returned before he was off to catch up with the others. Luckily, they didn't get far to even notice he lagged behind. It wasn't long before they had all reach the edge of the forest and, with one step forward, their journey had officially begun. Every step they took the beach of Nome became smaller behind the approaching tree line until all the gang could see was endless woodland from all around them.

For the next hour, Balto and the gang trek the snowy terrain with nothing but the sound of snow crunching under their feet. However, the cold environment proved to be too much for the group's smaller individuals. Ducky found it challenging to move through the snowy surface as it almost came up her midsection. Thus, she sought sanctuary on top of Spike's head but, even then, the inactivity caused her to shiver under the cold. Petrie, from personal experience, knew that flying for a prolonged period would cause his wings to stiff up until they become frozen. So, the young fly took refuge in Balto's fur. After a while of what seemed like aimless walking, a certain threehorn was becoming a bit antsy.

"We've been walking for hours," Cera exaggerated due to her boredom, "Where are we even going anyway?"

"Simple. We're going to go see Nava." Balto answered without a pause in his movement.

"Isn't he that wolf you said talks to spirits?" said Ducky while trying to hide her shivering.

"The very same."

Cera responded with a huff, "Great, we're going to meet another Jiao."

Balto tensed up when he heard that name. Jiao, a middle-aged longneck who was both a self-proclaimed prophet and one of Balto's most prominent rivals from within the Great Valley. Throughout Balto's stay, Jiao had made it his mission to get the wolfdog thrown out of the valley, and things really escalated when he found out that Balto was a carnivore. Balto would still get flashes of when that longneck almost beat him to death. So, if anything, it was insulting to compare Nava to Jiao.

A sentiment not only felt by Balto as Littlefoot gave the young threehorn a shove muttering, "Cera." sternly under his breath.

"What?" Cera spoke back with irritation, "You can't tell me there aren't some similarities."

"Yes, they both claim to speak to spirits, but that's just a surface-level comparison," Balto explained, "Like I said a while back, Nava is a kind wolf. He helped my daughter and me, after all."

"So, where is this guy anyway?" Cera said smugly.

"Yeah… about that. I don't know." The looks on everyone's face was priceless as they stared at Balto in disbelief.

Not satisfied with this, Boris stepped up to voice his complaints, "Balto, are you saying that you've been leading us on a wild goose chase?"

"Of course not, Boris. If that were the case, we'd all be following you," Balto joked around to lighten the mood; which seemed to work as the gang did have a chuckle at that, "In all seriousness, just because I don't know where Nava is doesn't mean I don't know how to find him. I have a friend out here who can help us with just that."

Boris pondered on this response, "But the only person we know out here is… oh no."

"What wrong with Boris?" asked Petrie

Balto tried to think of how to phrase his answer, for it was kind of a sensitive topic, "Let's just say he and Boris don't get along."

They continued walking through the wilderness believing the trip to be uneventful, or so they thought. Balto stopped dead in his tracks as he a familiar scent reached his nose. The smell of dog. Not just any dog, this scent belonged to Caesar. The scent was soon followed up by his owner, Old Man Johnson. They must be out here hunting, but this area was out of their usual hunting range. Quickly, he warned the others of the approaching danger and to follow him to safety. The wolfdog first led them all across a small creek in the hope the water would help in masking their scent; after which he had them all hide behind some bush and underbrush around the area. It wasn't enough, though. Balto pulled off a low hanging branch as he began to use it to sweep away the track left in the snow. He was only able to reach the edge of the creek before he heard Old Man Johnson shouting in the distance.

" _That's it, boy! Go get 'em!_ "

No more time to clean footprints anymore, Balto could already hear Caesar moving closer. He just hopes that this would be enough to throw the two off the gang's trail. The wolfdog tossed the branch in the water and watched how the current pushed it downstream out of sight. Not long did it take before Caesar barreled out from the tree lines stopping just at the edge of the creek. So enamored he was with his tracking that the dog didn't even notice Balto on the other side at first.

"Caesar?" Balto said a casually as possible.

"Oh, hey Balto," Caesar only passing notice to the wolfdog before sniffing the ground with anticipation.

"You seemed to be hunting outside of your preferred area," Balto said in a way that hopefully didn't come off as an interrogation, "What's up?"

It was only after such that Caesar picked his head off the ground to better address the wolfdog, "After all the laughter my owner and I received the other day, he decided we should go back out and find that Wendigo." Caesar used his paw to point at the prints that still on the other side of the creek. "See? Wendigo tracks. From how some of the prints vary in space, I believe this thing has six legs at the very least." Balto sighed in relief. It was a good thing that Caesar was such a lousy tracker, or else he would have caught Balto's scent and prints intermingled with the kids, "I'll sure show those other dogs. My owner and I: we're going to catch it, stuff it, and have it hanging on the general store wall. Then we'll see who's laughing."

Hearing what plans Caesar and Old Man Johnson had in store for his friends painted a very morbid image in Balto's mind. The thought of the gangs' heads mounted on a wall somewhere was almost enough for a growl to form in his throat.

"Yeah…" Balto did his best to keep calm under these horrible imaginations, "That's… great."

"Say," Caeser pulled his attention away from the tracks for once, "What are you doing out here so early?"

Balto, seeing a chance to change the topic, jumped on it immediately, "I'm here to see Kemo." he said without hesitation, and why not? It was a half-truth after all, "His territory is across this creek after all. You should be careful. You know how much he doesn't like humans, and his feelings for hunting dogs are only slightly less so."

At the mention of that name caused Caesar a shiver down his spine, "I didn't know I was so close to his territory. I don't want to get my human in trouble with him."

Balto felt guilty for putting fear into the Bernese, "It's okay, Caesar. You're technically not on his territory right now. You know, the Wendigo probably went downstream. After all, what's downstream other than…"

"That's right, a lake!" Caesar's mood suddenly switched back to his ecstatic hunting self, "It'll probably go there to find something to eat. Thanks, Balto." Caesar was ready to run until he turned to Balto once more, "You won't tell Kemo I was here, will you?"

"My lips are sealed."

Caesar then ran off all the while barking to his owner to follow. Once Balto was sure the coast was clear, he returned to where the others were all hiding. The dinosaurs were all relieved to have avoided the confrontation with the dog if the things he said would be done to them were as bad as they sound. Needless to say, if any of them had any thoughts about visiting the town of Nome, those thoughts had soon diminished.

"That close one," Petrie said before flying back onto Balto's head, "Me thought he find us for sure."

"You said it," said Boris, "If that lazy dog had found us, you'd all be stuffed right about now."

"Boris," Balto loved this goose, he really did, but sometimes he lets his mouth yammer on, "Let's try not scaring the kids."

"Why?" Ducky spoke with her innocent curiosity, "What were they going to stuff us with? Food?" Spike nodded his with a grin on his face believing what his sister said to be the case.

Balto's heart felt as if it had twisted into a knot as mind went back to those earlier thoughts, "You don't want to know."

"Okay, then tell us about this Kemo guy," Cera interjected, "That's who we're meeting, right? From the way you and that dog talked about him, it sounds like he's someone to be avoided."

"Well, not exactly."

"But that dog said he didn't want his human to get in trouble with _him_ , and humans have guns," Littlefoot said with also some worry, "Is this Kemo really that scary to take on a human?"

"No, he's a nice guy," Balto tried to calm everyone down, "It's just that he can be a bit grumpy."

Boris let a chuckle at this notion, "A bit? I wouldn't be surprised if Kemo would rip a bear's arm off for looking at him funny."

" _ **Boris!**_ "Balto barked back.

Realizing he was doing more harm than good, the goose tried to remedy the situation, "Oh... I mean... he's as gentle as a butterfly."

Balto hid his face behind one of his paws in embarrassment, "Guys, I know how it all sounds, buts there's nothing to worry about."

Cera though was not as convinced, "Sure. Then how come him and Boris don't get along?"

Balto took a deep gulp as he knew this wasn't going to end well, "When I first introduce them to each other, Kemo tried to... eat him." everyone's eyes shot up wide with fear, "Listen, everyone, there's nothing to be afraid of. Honest. The second that Kemo knows that you're with me, he won't do anything to harm you. I promise."

There was a moment of silence amongst the group. Indeed they were all a bit hesitant to be walking straight into the lands of some predator they didn't know. Such a thing wasn't their idea of a good time. However, Balto did say that this guy could help them with find Nava and thus get them home. It's not like they had any other options here.

"We believe you Balto," Littlefoot stepped up for his friends, "Lead the way."

Happy to see his Littlefoot by his, Balto continued to lead on through the forest. Most of the gang followed after him. All except for two.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Cera asked Littlefoot.

"Well, Balto sure seems to trust him." was all Littlefoot could answer with.

"But we don't know anything about this guy!" Cera retorted, "How can we sure if Balto is right about him?"

"Because I trust Balto," Littlefoot said bluntly before starting to walk off, "Remember what happened the last time we didn't trust him?"

Cera sighed to herself as she knew what he meant. How when they were all tricked by Jiao into thinking that Balto was an evil sharptooth bent on eating them. That no matter how much Balto tried to convince them overwise, none of them bothered to listen. Such action led to them all turning on him, and Balto suffering at being beaten by Jiao. When the gang finally figured out what was really going on, they all felt ashamed for allowing such a thing to happen to one of their friends. Remembering these events caused Cera to be silent and follow after everyone else.

With everything settled, Balto and the gang were once again set out to find this Kemo person. Nothing of much interest had happened after their near encounter with Caesar. Just trekking through the thick snowy trees of the woods once again was starting to wane on the children. Boredom was slowly setting in on the group something that Balto was afraid might happen. Seeing the problem at hand, Boris opted that they should sing a song to help pass the time. The old goose had also taken it upon himself to teach them Frère Jacques, and it worked wonders. Balto looked back with a smile seeing the children were now gleefully enjoying themselves despite this long trip.

"Come on, Balto, join us." Littlefoot said with glee.

Balto just shook his head, "I'm not much of a singer."

Boris chuckled at this, "He's not kidding. His singing is so bad it can break the thickest ice."

"My personal motivational speaker, Boris, everybody." Balto said sarcastically which got everyone to giggle.

"How much farther now, Balto?" asked Petrie.

"We should be near the center of Kemo's territory by now," Balto took a whiff of the air to find any trace of his friend, "Don't worry. If we can't find him, he'll definitely find us."

"Yeah, because we all want to be stalked by a predator." Cera said under her breath.

"Ask, and you shall receive."

The group stopped dead in their tracks looking for the sound of the voice. What they saw, from on a boulder, was a large cougar. Its fur that of a dirt ridden gold. The paws lay comfortably on the rock as the cat occasionally showed its razor-sharp claws. All except for the right hind leg, which looked to be lame from some sort of struggle. However, that was not as nearly noticeable as the deep greenish-yellow eyes that leered at the children with hunger. That look was enough to steal the breath away from the children's throats in fear of making the slightest sound.

Though Littlefoot knew better, he felt that he had to ask anyway, "Balto, is this him?"

"No," the wolfdog answered without hesitation, "Stay behind me." The dinosaurs did what he said as Balto faced the mountain lion, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I think you know what I want," the large cat leaped off the rocks and approached the group. Slower than usual thanks to the lame hind leg, "You see, winter has been especially harsh this year. Most of the best game are either hibernating, or have migrated someplace warmer." he tried to look over Balto's at the dinosaurs, but the wolfdog kept blocking his gaze, "I couldn't help but notice you have quite the bounty. I'm willing to be nice. Be a neighbor and how about sharing some of your spoils."

Balto could hear the young ones gasping at the cougar's request, "Sorry, but we have somewhere to be right now."

"What's your hurry?" the cougar stepped in the wolfdog's path, "I love having people over for dinner."

"That's out of the question," Balto insisted, "We've come to see a friend, so please let us pass."

The cougar though was persistent and wasn't taking the hint, "What about the plump green one?" he pointed to Spike who, out of fear, burrowed his head in the snow to hide, "Surely, you already have more than enough for whoever you're meeting and, look, it comes with a little dessert on top."

Ducky coward from on top of her brother. She didn't like how this animal was talking about her and Spike. This guy was really crossing the line as far as Balto was concerned. He jumped in front of the cougar and took a defensive pose.

"They are not for eating!"

The cougar was taken aback by the wolfdog's outburst, but it was only just a moment, "Oh, you must be one of those prey sympathizers. Adopting something that's supposed to be your food, pathetic." he gagged in disgust, "Let me guess, you're a vegetarian too?"

"I'm far from being a vegetarian," Balto replied, still holding a defensive position, "But these children are my responsibility, they're under my protection. All I want to get them back home, so leave us be!"

The cougar was still not taking the hint, "I didn't notice it until now, but you also smell of dog. You're a domesticated animal, aren't you?" Balto didn't answer, but it did confirm his suspicions, "Now it makes sense. You have no real predatory instincts to speak of. Oh well, I tried playing nice. I guess I have to be more forceful."

"Don't lay a paw on them!"

"Or what?" the cougar was starting to mock the wolfdog, "Are you going to go cry to your human masters. Weak-minded pet."

"Boy, are you dumb," Cera said, walking in front of Balto, much to his dismay, to face the cat, "You have no idea who you're talking to. Balto is strong enough to take on a Horned Sharptooth, let alone kick your butt any day across this forest."

"I have no idea what that is," the cougar said before lifting up a paw, his claws extended, "But thanks for volunteering to be my first meal." the mountain lion took a swipe at Cera's head, but the threehorn ducked the attack as she squealed. Her courage had diminished in that instant.

That was the last straw! It was bad enough that this cougar was threatening the young ones, but he's now proven to be a real threat to their lives. Reacting fast, Balto rushed the cougar from the left and bit down on its neck. The cougar struggled to shake him off, but Balto was not budging. The wolfdog was determined to hold onto the big cat no matter how much it flailed about. Eventually, Balto was able to push the mountain lion on its side and pin it to the ground.

"Boris!" Balto exclaimed, "Take the kids and run!"

Boris did as he was told and ushered the children deep into the trees. As he watched them go out of site, Balto let his guard down long enough for the cougar to roll over and smacked the wolfdog off. The cat tried to make a beeline for the dinosaurs, but Balto stopped him by grabbing hold of the feline's busted leg with his jaw. The two animals were soon tussling along the snowy grounds.

Deeper in the forest, the gang ran for their collective lives away from the battle with Boris leading the way. So frightened they were of the cougar that they opted to not look back as they feared it would right behind them. Just run and let Balto handle it by himself. Littlefoot stopped in his tracks when he realized this. They just left Balto by himself with that thing.

"Littlefoot, what are you doing!" Cera asked being the first to notice the longneck had stopped.

"What's the matter? You got ants in pants?" Boris went to the dinosaur's rear-end to try and push him to move, "Let's go!"

"But we can't." Littlefoot asserted, "We can't just leave Balto behind."

"Come on, Littlefoot, he's a grownup," Cera tried to convince him, "He can take care of himself. He beat the Horned Sharptooth, remember?"

"Not without our help," Littlefoot corrected, "Balto has already done a lot for us, and now he needs our help. Are we just going to leave him there?"

"Listen, boychik, I know you want to help, but now is not the time," Boris was moved by Littlefoot's words like the rest of the children, but he had to be the responsible adult here, "The best way to help him now is to get to safety." Boris closed his eyes as he stood up straight to give off a sense of authority, "Since Balto left me in charge, I must take responsibility and insist that we…" when the old goose opened his eyes, the kids were already gone; running straight into battle, "Why does no one ever listen to me?" he soon followed after them.

Back to the dueling animals. Balto was struggling a bit in overpowering this mountain lion as teeth and claw flew all around. Despite the bad leg, this feline has proven to be quite the opponent. The two were locked trying to wrestle the other to the ground. Balto could've had it if the cougar didn't throw another sucker punch at the wolfdog's head. The cougar changed in hopes to land the final blow to this meddling wolfdog. Instead, something slammed into cougar's side, sending him tumbling away from his intended target.

"You wanna mess with him?" Balto looked up to see none other than Cera kicking the dirt under her foot, "You'll have to get through me."

The cougar growled at the threehorn and was ready to attack her. Suddenly a series of large rocks and snowballs were being chucked at the feline's head. Littlefoot threw the snowballs to distract as Spike attacked by throwing the stones. Balto was surprised to see that the gang had come back to aid him. A fact he wishes to address as Boris came out to try and help him up.

"I thought I told you all to run." Balto said in a daze.

"Trust me, I tried," said Boris as he continued to help pick his wolfdog friend up, "But that Littlefoot can be pretty persuasive sometimes."

The cougar was starting to become very annoyed right now. All this hustle over some food. If that wasn't enough, icicles were also being thrown at him from above. Overhead, the large cat saw Ducky and Petrie on top of a tree branch chucking the pieces of ice, as large as they could get their hands on, right at him.

"Take that you mean old sharptooth!" Ducky shouted as she hurled some more ice.

The cougar was becoming ever more frustrated as one of those chunks actually struck him in the eye. Now he was determined to finish end this. The cat jumped up on the tree the two smaller dinosaurs were on and began climbing it. Littlefoot, thinking fast, grabbed the cougar by the tail with his teeth. The young longneck tried to pull the cougar down only to get swatted by the back of its paw. Littlefoot fell to the ground with a hard thud and, when he looked up, saw how the cougar was now on top of him ready to bite down on his neck.

Something snapped within Balto. Seeing Littlefoot underneath this vicious predator sent the wolfdog's blood boiling. Pushing back the pain from being hit, Balto pounced on the cougar's back and bit into the back of its neck with such fury it would put some sharpteeth to shame. The cougar tried with all his might to shake off the wolfdog: he jumped, he kicked, but the canine stayed on. Balto, despite his ferocity, found it to be hard to rip into the skin thanks in no small part to the feline's excess skin. The cougar then tried to stand on his one good leg and fell back to slam Balto on the ground. It was strong enough to knock the wind out of the wolfdog. He was helpless as the mountain lion pinned him to the ground ready to end this once and for all with one bite to the jugular, but it never came.

It took a moment for Balto to realize that a howl broke out in the area. A deep – strong howl that echoed across the trees which only amplify its volume. Everyone saw that on top the rocks the cougar previously laid stood a wolf. A massive wolf, whose size made Balto almost look short. His fur was as white as the snow that covered the very ground. The only exception being the shade of black that lined up along the tips of his ears. The gaze of his hard – golden eyes pieced through the cougar's render the cat into a fearful state. However, the most noticeable feature was the scar. A hideously red scar that began on his right cheek, directly below the eye, and stretched all the way down his neck ending just on the right shoulder blade. The wolf jumped down and approached the cougar with his body straight, ears back, and deep growl escaping his throat.

"Kemo." the cougar said as he clearly lost his nerves almost becoming a stuttering mess, "What a surprise running into you like this."

Kemo posture didn't change in the slightest, "Yes, it is a surprise to see you here, Lumoc," his voice was gruff and stern as he practically spat at the mention of the cougar's name, "Especially seeing that these are my hunting grounds, my territory! I thought you would know better after our last encounter."

The cougar, Lumoc, pulled his lame leg right under him trying to hide it from the monster wolf, "I didn't mean anything bad by it. It's just that this winter been very harsh in my territory, and I was so hungry I had to do something." the gang was amazed how this once fearsome predator was being rendered as a blithering child being scolded by a parent, "Surely, you have more than enough to share in these lands."

Kemo stood tall as Lumoc shrank under his gaze, "Winter is always hard on all of us hunters. It's still no excuse for trespassing. I seem to remember I made a similar offer to you when I first came here long ago, and how you wanted these lands all to yourself leading to our current predicament of me having to chase you out. If you can't survive in these conditions that's on your head, and if you die, you die."

"If that's what Balto calls grumpy, I do not want to see him angry," Ducky said as Petrie flew her back onto Spike's head, "Nope, nope, nope." everyone silently agreed.

It was then that Kemo saw Balto being pinned under Lumoc, and immediately his fur stood with anger, "And you dare attack my guest! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip you apart."

Lumoc quickly scrambled to get off of Balto, "I didn't know he was with you. Listen, I'm sorry, really. I learned my lesson." Lumoc was nearly in tears with fear, "Please spare me, and you'll never see me around here again."

Kemo looked upon the blither mess before him and let out a huff, "Pathetic." his posture now relaxing, "Go! Before I decide to break another leg."

Lumoc wasted no time to scurry out of there with his tail between his legs. The gang stood there in astonishment of how quickly that was taken care of. So, this was Kemo. Now some of them understood why Balto was quick to try and keep them calm before meeting him. No matter how they looked at him, this wolf carried with him a presence that made you feel like you should think twice before messing with him. The intimidation factor didn't stop when Balto got up and showed that, with both of them standing on all four, the wolfdog's head only reached slightly over Kemo's broad shoulder.

"Thanks for the save, Kemo," Balto said without a hint of fear being close to the large size wolf.

"Anytime," said Kemo. The tone in his voice soften immensely, but still carried a low gruff to it, "Good to see you again, Balto. It's been some time since we last saw one another."

"Sorry about that. Things have been hectic in ways you wouldn't believe."

A small chuckle escapes from Kemo's throat, "So long as you, Jenna, your pups, and that little human of yours are okay then that's fine with me."

Boris waddled up until he was next to Balto, "You're quite a sight for sore eyes, 'Scarface.'"

"Feeling's mutual, 'Lunch.'"

Balto snickered a little at the banter between the two, "Actually, there is a reason why we're here, but first let me introduce you to..." Balto looked over to see the young dinosaurs shyly hiding behind the trees, "Come on guys, I want you all to meet my friend. Don't worry, he won't bite. I promise."

Kemo stood still as to not frighten Balto's friends any more than he probably already did. From out of the trees came what could be the oddest-looking creatures he ever laid eyes on. Just from looking at them, Kemo could see that they were as curious about him as he was of them. If their scent was anything to go by, he could tell that they must be pretty young for their respective species. Still didn't stop the wolf from giving Balto a very quizzical look.

"What have you gotten yourself into this time?" he asked.

Balto just laughed, "It's a long story. First let me introduce you all," Balto walked into the middle of the two groups, "Kemo, allow me to introduce you to Littlefoot, Cera, Duckey, Petrie, and Spike." he pointed to each dinosaur with his paw so Kemo could identify them, "Guys, this is Kemo. My brother."

 **End of Chapter 3**

 **A/N: And with that, I think we'll end with that surprise twist. For those not in the know, Kemo an old fanon character created by Cyberwulf back in the late 90s as a means to answer who the white wolf was in the first movie was (as you probably tell he was made before the second movie came out), who sadly I haven't seen utilized that much anymore. Though I will cover it later, his origins from Cyberwulf's fic 'Reunion' are pretty much the same with a few creative liberties (such as possessing a scar now). Anyway, just to let everybody know, I'm taking a short break for now. No, I'm not going away for seven years! Just need a quick break from writing two stories at the same time, and to get some creative juices flowing by catching up with a book or two. Until then, hope you all enjoy today extra-large chapter enough to leave a review. Till next time.**


	4. Kemo the White Wolf

**The Time of Wolves 2**

 **Chapter 4: Kemo the White Wolf**

"But we wanted to go on a journey too." said Muk.

Hours have passed since Balto left Nome with the group of young dinosaurs. However, from how these bears were acting, you'd think it's been several days. Jenna sighed to herself. She knew what she was signing up for when agreeing to deal with Muk and Luk. When the bears awoke, they went up to the boat before Jenna even had a chance to say anything to greet Boris and their new friends. After not seeing them, the bears assumed they must be playing a game of hide and seek. With still no clue as to their whereabouts, did they finally show signs of concern. It's only then, did the bears notice Jenna standing there waiting for the duo to be done with their antics. Thus, she was finally given a chance to inform them of the situation, which in turn led to this moment.

"I know boys," the red husky replied, "It was just all so sudden. There wasn't enough time to wait up."

Jenna was far too tired for this. After being woken up so suddenly this morning from Littlefoot, she hadn't the time to nap since she had to wait for the polar bears. It didn't help any that these bears were as bombastic as young children despite having known them years now. She brushed it off as they never knew any better.

Luk then made a series of mumbles that only his bother could understand, "Luk's right, what if they need us?"

Jenna gave a small smile at their charming demeanor, "That's why I'm here," she said, "You see, someone needs to watch over the boat until they get back, and Boris said he would trust no one other than you two."

Sparks shined within their eyes as Jenna informed them of their new essential duty. Muk assured the dog that they would not disappoint before running up the boat. As Jenna was leaving, she looked over to see the two bears on the mass, keeping a close eye over the area.

It was like taking candy from a baby. Jenna always hated that human phrase. Who would do such a horrible thing? Though it did correctly describe what she pulled. Jenna walked through the town of Nome on the verge of being dead tired. She hoped to make it home to nap perhaps for the whole day. Such things were not meant to be as Jenna saw her son, Kodi, came up to wish her good morning before heading over to his father. Jenna had to resist the urge to yawn as she repeated what was going on.

Kodi had a look of disappointment from the news; he was hoping to spend more time with his father and the dinosaurs. The young husky was particularly fond of the little yellow one named Ducky and her adopted brother, Spike. It was not helped that his job as a mail dog was soon going to take him away from Nome for less than a week. Not until thirty minutes now would he be strapped into a harness with the rest of his team to head out to the small town of White Mountain.

"I was really hoping on seeing them one more time before I had to go." Kodi said in disappointment.

Jenna nodded to her son, "I know, it is exciting. It's not every day you get to meet dinosaurs, but I'm sure you'll be able to see them again when you get back," Jenna soon let out a huge yawn and stretched her legs, "If you excuse me. I had a long morning. I need a nap."

She walked off, leaving Kodi by his lonesome. The rust-colored husky was now beside himself. With his father and new friends gone, Kodi knew not what to do to pass the time. Perhaps he could go and visit...

"Surprise!"

Kodi was startled by this sudden surprise noise that he fell to the ground and scrambled to get up in a way that made him look ridiculous. He looked up to see his sister, Saba, having a fit of laughter at her brother's reaction. The lighter color husky was sometimes known for her surprise greetings. Whether someone enjoyed them or not was another matter entirely.

"Saba!" Kodi did his best to calm himself before continuing. It wasn't easy, for his heart felt as if it was trying to pound itself out of his chest, "You know how much I hate it when you do that."

Saba tried to speak but couldn't as she caught in such a burst of uncontrollable laughter, "Lighten up little brother. A little sudden burst of excitement helps gets the blood pumping."

"Or gives someone a heart attack." Kodi retorted.

Soon Saba's laughs died as she had this look of seriousness about her, "I know your secret," her words caught Kodi off guard, "Kodi, I'm childish, not stupid. I know exactly what you, mom, and papa have been hiding."

She knew? How could she know? He'd made sure to be careful so that nobody knew of the dinosaurs until good time. Though it might not be all that bad. It was Saba after all. If she told anyone, people would probably think she was acting like... well like Saba.

"Kodi, it's alright," she interrupted his train of thought, "I'm sure everyone on the mail team goes through this."

Kodi turned from worried to just confused. What would the others in the mail team know about hiding dinosaurs? Surely, they weren't thinking about the same thing, "What?"

The female husky thought her brother was being coy, "Well duh, sneaking around with mom at night, leaving those big footprints. It's obvious. You have swollen feet!" Kodi was now awestruck by what his sister just said. He had no idea what she was talking about, but Saba took it as a sign of confirmation, "Don't worry, I won't tell Dingo. Lord knows this would give him enough material to last until next winter. But seriously, Kodi, if your job is putting so much stress on you there no shame in asking for help. As your big sister, I would be more than willing to help my precious baby brother." she threw left paw over his should and began nuzzling Kodi very affectionately, which really annoyed him.

"You know you're only older than me by less than an hour?" he asked.

"Yeah, but you will always be a baby to me," Saba gave her brother a dog style noogie before wandering off, "Don't forget to look after those paws of your when you get back. Okay, bye!"

Kodi just stared off into nothing as his sister walked off. All he could do was wonder, what just happened? "I swear she gets crazier every day."

* * *

It had been hours since the gang left into the snowy forest. All was pleasant, if not boring, until being the most unpleasant encounter with a mountain lion. Now the young dinosaurs all stood in front of a massive white wolf that saved them. The kids still couldn't get over just how much bigger he was than Balto as the wolfdog in question told him their story. The wolf was Kemo, Balto's brother, or at least that's what Balto said. Honestly, Littlefoot couldn't see the resemblance.

Not only because of Kemo's size and fur color, but also in overall appearance as well. Kemo's muscles were far leaner than Balto's. His facial features were sharper down to the muzzle. But what was most apparent were his eyes. Unlike Balto's kind – warm yellow eyes that made you feel safe, Kemo's eyes remained hard and stern devoid of any sense of cheerfulness. In fact, now that he thought about it, Littlefoot can't recall Kemo cracking the slightest hint of a smile since meeting him. Even after saving Balto, the wolf didn't have a twitch curling on the edge of his lips after seeing his 'brother' safe. Either this wolf was just so super serious about himself like Cera's dad, or maybe he didn't have a care of others. Whatever the case may be, Kemo already made it clear that he was someone to never get on their bad side.

"So, let me get this straight," Kemo spoke after Balto finished his story, "You were sent to the distant past, making friends with these creatures called 'dinosaurs,' protecting them from a monster, and came back only an hour after you left?" Balto answered with a nod, "Now the opposite has happened, and now you need to help them get back to their time." Balto nodded once again, "Alright. That makes sense."

"Wait," Cera said in baffled, "You believe us? Just like that?"

"Well, the proof is staring me right in the face," Kemo answered, "I have to be really stubborn to not believe this." Balto eyed Boris in annoyance, "Besides, I'd do anything to help my brother."

"I didn't know you even had a brother, Balto." said Ducky.

"Yeah, me neither," Cera said more suspiciously, "Littlefoot, did he ever tell you about having a brother?" the longneck shook his head.

"Wow," Kemo responded with his voice still hardly changing from the same deadpan expression he carried ever since the cougar left, "Don't I feel loved."

Balto was quick to try and clear some confusion, "Okay, I'll admit, I kind of forgot to tell them all about you."

"Even though you were there for over a week?" the wolf stated.

"A lot happened in that time." Balto said.

"So I've heard," Kemo said with sarcasm that could be heard even through the monotone voice, "Guess you were too busy with all that playtime. Not enough time to say, 'Oh, by the way, I have an older brother.'"

"Okay, I get it. I messed up." Balto said, completely embarrassed.

Littlefoot and the gang giggled at the feuding siblings. It was nice that despite the Kemo's deadpan expression that he at least still had a sense of humor. Not to mention, it wasn't every day they saw Balto so flustered. Perhaps he wouldn't be so bad after all.

"So," Kemo looked at the dinosaurs before turning back to Balto, "If you're so determined to get them home, why send them to me?"

"I had a 'hunch' on who could possibly help us," Balto said while trying not to allude to his hunch being from a dream, "We're looking for Nava, and I know you know where we can find him. Please, he could be our only hope."

Kemo looked to the dinosaurs once again. Their eyes pleading for his aid. The large wolf inhaled before he answered their calls, "Yes. I did see Nava but a few days back. I'll be willing to bring you to him if it would help."

"Again, just like that?" Cera asked still in disbelief.

"When I said I'd do anything for my brother, I meant it," Kemo answered though his tone indicated he was tired of Cera's skepticism, "Even if that means helping a bunch of little ones."

"Excuse me!" now the gang were becoming wise to how Kemo just didn't express himself like most, but Cera took it as an act of condescension, "For your information when we get older, we'll get much bigger. In fact, way bigger than you!" she marched right up to the giant wolf to stare him off.

Kemo, now being fed up with the threehorn's attitude, stared her down intensely, "Maybe so. But that day is obviously not today, isn't it 'little one?'"

Everyone stood in watched as the two just stared each other down. The gang had rarely seen anyone who would be so willing to stare down a threehorn, they were sure that Kemo could give Cera's dad a run for his money. Needless though, Cera was determined to not back down to so-called fierce wolf. Cera tried all her might to make herself look big to the wolf. A futile attempt as her horn barely made it over his chest. Kemo just looked down on her with his hard-golden eyes burning through her young green eyes. His ear pulled back as a low growl escaped his throat.

"Alright, enough! Both of you!" Balto intervened before things got too out of hand, "Cera, Kemo has offered to help us. We should be thankful for that." Cera huffed as she looked away from the white wolf, "Kemo, I said this to Boris, and I hope you'll actually listen," a cough from the old goose could be heard, but Balto ignored it, "But please, try not to frighten the children. They're already farther away from home than they could ever imagine."

Kemo snarled as he was still irritated by the young threehorn, "Very well," he and Cera exchanged one more passing glance before the wolf moved ahead of them, "Then let's get a move on. Soon this is all over with the better."

In silence, the group followed after Kemo. It was a very somber experience, to say the least. The tension was thick enough that it could be cut with a knife. None of the dinosaurs dared faced the white wolf in fear if he'd scrawl at them as well.

"Good job, Cera," Littlefoot said in a hushed whisper, "I think you got him mad at us."

"Who cares," she shot back, "He doesn't seem so tough."

Littlefoot knew that if this wasn't Cera, he couldn't believe what he heard, "I don't know. That sharptooth look really frightened to see him, and Kemo did say he'd break another one of his legs."

Cera just huffed like she always did, "A threehorn knows a thing or two about being tough. Trust me, his tough-guy act can't fool me."

Cera was a very prideful girl like most threehorns and, like most, too prideful. She didn't have the heart to admit if Balto didn't intervene when he did, Cera would've last only a few more seconds before flinching. For within those eyes, Cera a wave of deep-rooted anger lingering inside the wolf. It wasn't anger for her, no. Those eyes held such anger that has been burning longer then she wished to know. Something terrible happened to that wolf, and that stare would be forever burned into her retina.

Kemo heard their conversation but did bother to let on. He could care less what anyone thought of, especially the threehorn. He was only interested in helping Balto out, and that meant helping these strange creatures. However, as they were journeying through the forest, Kemo did notice one of them not doing so well. The small yellowish one, Ducky, was getting colder as she rests on Spike's head. It was subtle, but Kemo could see how young swimmer would occasionally rub her upper arms and her legs would jitter. Ducky was certainly doing her best to hide it, but not well enough to not catch Kemo's ever-watchful eyes.

The white wolf slowed his pace until he was right next to Spike, "You're cold," he said to Ducky, "Get on. My fur will keep you warm."

"That's okay. I'm fine. Yep, yep, yep." Ducky did her best show that everything was fine, but ultimately couldn't hide her shivering from the towering wolf.

"I understand what you're doing," said Kemo, "You're trying to prove to everyone that you can make it out here as they are. But there's a fine line between bravery and foolishness. There's nothing to prove by freezing to death." despite how harsh his words seemed, Kemo did try to soften his voice for the small child. Not an easy feat for how low his voice was, "Your other small friend had the right idea seeking warmth with Balto." He gestured over to Petrie, who was perched on Balto's head, "So, I insist, hop on. I promise I won't bite."

The large wolf leaned down to make it easier for the small swimmer. Ducky hesitated for a moment. She was a bit frightened of Kemo after how he faced down both a cougar and one of her best friends so easily. But, even if it was hard to make out, she did hear a hint of compassion in his voice. There was truth in his words. Taking a leap of faith, Ducky got up and climbed up onto the wolf until she was firmly rested along the back of his neck. Not soon after, Ducky leaned into Kemo's fur. It was just so soft and warm like Balto's, but because Kemo was so big meant there was much more to snuggle against.

"Thank you, Mr. Kemo. Balto was right, you are nice." the moment she said that Spike suddenly started to lick Kemo's face, "That means Spike likes you."

"Well look who's bonding with the kids," Balto said with a sly smile, "You know, once Spike ends up liking you, he'll be your friend for life."

"Oh, goodie." Kemo tried to match his brother's sarcasm through his monotone vocals as spiketail drool ran down his face.

Several minutes had passed on and, aside from helping Ducky, Kemo mostly kept to himself on this journey. While wandering through the trees and underbrush, Littlefoot couldn't help but study Kemo some more. Something had been bugging him ever since Balto introduced the white wolf. Mainly who exactly was this Kemo? Why did Balto never mention him before?

"Is there something I can help you with?" Kemo said, looking at the little longneck.

Littlefoot was taken back under Kemo's stern gaze. The longneck had no idea that he had been staring, "Sorry. I was just curious is all."

"Well, we'll be walking for the rest of the day, so you might as well just spit it out."

"It's just that..." Littlefoot searched for the right words, "Well, I was just wondering about you and Balto. No offense, but you hardly look like him or Kodi."

"Not surprising, I'm not a wolfdog," Kemo answered with now all the dinosaurs staring at him to explain, "Yes, you're looking at a purebred wolf right now."

"But Balto called you his brother." Littlefoot pressed on.

Kemo looked to Balto to see that the wolfdog was okay with him tell the children about their shared past, "Theirs more than one way to become someone's brother, especially for wolves," he continued to speak as they trekked through the forest, "For wolves, family is more than what lies in our blood, it's the bonds we share. When a wolf bond with someone they see as family, they might as well be so. Balto and I have shared a bond ever since we were small pups."

"I get it!" Ducky spoke up, "It's like Spike and me. Even though we're not related, he still my little brother."

"I guess you can say it's like that," Kemo continued, "However, Balto and I are actually related. His mother is my father's younger sister, so we're actually cousins. When my mother died shortly after I was born, my aunt Aniu took it upon herself to fill in that role and raised me as such around the time Balto was about to be born."

"What's she like? Balto's mom." Littlefoot asked, interested in more of Balto's past being filled in.

"Aniu was beautiful," said Kemo, "Her fur was whiter than anyone in our side of the family, not a trace of any other colors like my father and me. It was like snow, and as soft as a cloud. She also had such a gentle voice that always made you feel safe. She was greatly missed when she passed." Balto's expression fell when hearing his brothers recounts of his mother, for Kemo was around long enough to actually get to know her unlike him. For Balto, memories of his mother were brief a rather vague "Anyway, after Balto was born, Aniu would have me watch over him as the pack would hunt. As a pup, Balto used to look up to me. We were quite inseparable, at least for a time, until he and Aniu got separated from the pack during a horrible storm. It would be a few years before I would leave the pack in search for my brother."

"And are all wolves as big as him?" Cera asked Balto not wishing to speak to Kemo.

"No," the wolfdog answered, "Kemo's a special case."

"What can I say?" Kemo asked rhetorically, "I had a growth spurt."

"How did you get that scar?" Littlefoot asked, becoming ever more curious about the wolf.

Suddenly something changed in the white wolf. Immediately, Kemo's face turned hard as if Littlefoot had stepped on his tail. Did he do something wrong? Was that not the right question to ask? Was he sensitive about the whole thing? Whatever the case, Kemo just turned away and focused on the path.

"We should really be focusing on the task at hand." said Kemo.

Balto gave Littlefoot an apologetic look. It wasn't the longneck's fault that Kemo was upset. Littlefoot didn't know not to talk about the scar. Balto knew none of the children had any idea behind its significance, but that was no excuse in his mind to give them such a cold shoulder.

"Kemo?" Balto pleaded

Kemo looked to his brother, and through silent stares, said how he hated talking about it. Balto eyes were more sympathetic. They showed how much he cared for Kemo's plight. However, Balto's eyes gestured to the children in a way to at least throw them a bone no matter how small. Kemo sighed under his brother's gaze and relented. Children were such curious little things, so why not sate a bit of it?

"Balto told you all about guns? What they can do?" the gang nodded to Kemo's question, "Well, that's what happened. A human shot me."

Kemo continued to walk off deep into the forest as to say that was all they were going to get. Soon they all followed after the white wolf in silence. No one dared to say anything in worry that they upset Kemo yet again. Might be best to journey through the forest to find this Nava. In time, the sun was beginning to set. All the excitement made them all lose track of time, and yet still no sign that they were any closer to finding Nava.

Kemo had also stopped on their intended path and wandered off sniffing the air. At first, everyone thought that the wolf had picked up the scent of who they were looking for until the kids began to sniff as well. It was the scent of water, running water as the sounds became clear to them. Soon everyone saw where Kemo was leading them to. A small secluded clearing with large rocks surrounding the edges. A few trees were sprouted close to these rocks; their roots have grown over the boulder leaving room for animals as big as bears to fit in them. A river could also be heard nearby.

"We'll be resting here for the night." Kemo declared.

"Oh, come on," Cera bemoaned, "It's not even dark yet. We can still go on."

"That wouldn't be unwise," Kemo replied with annoyance, "The night will come soon enough and, with the thickness of the tree, it will be easy to get lost. The night also brings out predators. Does anyone else want to explore a dark forest filled hungry predators waiting to pick them off?" Balto was ready to scold him for trying to scare the kids but saw how the wolf's tactic had worked. The gang shook their heads furiously, "Besides, these rocks will protect you kids from the winds, and there's a river nearby to drink. This spot is perfect." there was still some reluctance from the gang. Kemo sighed as he knew what might keep them to stay "If we stay here, there will be enough time to tell you all how I got my scar."

That had seemed to work. The dinosaurs enter the clearing to find a place they would be sleeping. Littlefoot and Cera each choice under the towering trees. Petrie flew behind Cera's crown for added protection against the night's wind. Ducky and Spike seemed to not be choosing a spot at all; just sitting around randomly on the ground.

With everything nice and settled, Balto told them that he, Kemo, and Boris would be eating at the river. Even when coming to peace with the fact of Balto being sharptooth, he knew they were still uncomfortable with the idea to see him doing so. The wolfdog would make sure to eat his share of meat, the fish of the Great Valley, in privacy.

By the riverbed, Kemo wasted no time in catching three fish for all of them. The canines and bird fed off their little morsels. The remaining time at the river was spent catching up with one another. Balto had told his brother everything else, aside from the time travel, had been going on since they last met. Though Kemo had no care for humans, apart for Rosy, he was at least pleased to hear how one of his nephews, Kodi, was living his dream at being a lead dog of Nome's mail team. Though Kemo's life was not as exciting. Nothing but tales of doing what he had to, to survive in the wild. Just a day in, day out for a lone wolf. Nothing at all exciting until this day.

"Honestly, Balto, you couldn't at least mention me in the slightest to those kids," Kemo's voice not nearly as harsh and monotone now only talking to his brother, "I swear they were petrified at the very sight of me."

"I thought you liked it when people feared you." Boris said sarcastically.

Kemo's voice became harsh again while addressing the goose, "I only like it when my enemies fear me! Not innocent children."

"I'm really sorry about that, Kemo," Balto said as he was gnawing on the fish bones, "I simply forgot. I was still trying to get over the idea that I might have been trapped in the past forever."

Kemo nodded as to say all was forgiven, "And these children looked after you while you were in this 'Great Valley?'"

"They did," Balto answered, "In fact, Littlefoot's family took me in, treated me like one of their own. If it weren't for any of them, I don't know how I would've coped being there."

"Then, for helping you, the least I can do to repay their deed is to do the same for them," Kemo announced, "Though that orange one, Cera was it? She's really trying my patience."

"Yeah, she can be a bit abrasive at times," Balto said knowing full well that was an understatement, "But she's just worried about her friends. She's really a good kid at heart. Give her time, and I'm sure you both will warm up to each other." Kemo groaned in a way that said he'd believe that when he sees it, "But what about you? Are you going to be okay telling this story? I remember how you acted the last time you had to."

"Last time I told it, it was still fresh," Kemo stated, "I've come to terms with some of it to tell it."

Balto still looked upon Kemo with sympathy, "Well, if you ever need help, I'm more than willing to pick up the slack."

"Thank you, brother."

In the clearing, the young dinosaurs were feasting on the trees that surrounded their area. The gang was slowly getting used to the taste of these future plants. Though it wasn't the bitter taste of leaves that had Littlefoot preoccupied. That would go to his threehorn friend, more or less her behavior as of late. She had been acting pretty antagonistic to their newest companion. He had absolutely no idea as to why she was so hostile to the white wolf.

Thinking more about it, it was almost no different from how she had first treated Balto if not worse. Possessing such a massive distrust for the wolfdog in his early days being in the Great Valley, and at times trying to find vindication for it. However, she did grow to accept Balto as a friend in due time. When Balto left, Cera confided into him that she acted such because she was secretly jealous how much the rest of them would admire the wolfdog's bravery than anything else. Now, though, Cera was unusually confrontational towards Kemo. For reasons he needed to figure out before Cera did something she'd soon regret.

"I don't get it, Cera," Littlefoot said, "Why did you have to get into an argument with Kemo?"

Cera just huffed like always, "Are you still on about that?"

"Yes, I am." he stated bluntly, "The last thing we need is to pick fights with new friends."

"Friend!? We just met the guy." Cera was close to shouting, "We don't know anything about him except that he's a sharptooth that may or may not be related to Balto, and we have him lead us to another predator. Am I the only one who sees a problem here?"

Littlefoot rolled his eyes, " Balto vouches for them. I thought you trusted him by now."

"I trust Balto just fine," she clarified, "I just don't trust any other wolves right now. You remember what Balto said about there not being treestars here. They never got a chance to eat them like he has. What are we going to do if they suddenly get hungry?"

"Balto will look after us," Littlefoot said with confidence, "He always has."

"Besides, Kemo wouldn't hurt us," Ducky joined in, "He was nice enough to let me ride him so I would be warm."

Cera threw her horn up in the air with another huff, "You guys are as gullible as eggs." she before walking over to her little tree den.

Littlefoot scrunched his face in annoyance towards the threehorn. In retaliation, he scooped his tail into the snow and whipped a snowball right into the back of Cara's head. The threehorn turned back with fire in her eyes.

"Oh. You'll pay for that!" she snarled.

"Come and make me." Littlefoot taunted.

Cera immediately scooped up some snow with her horn and threw it at Littlefoot. Littlefoot, in turn, dodged the oncoming snowball before whipping some more right back at her. Soon an all-out snowball battle ensued between them. Not wanting to be left out Ducky and Petrie joined in on the fun with Spike just minding his own business. It was a full-on snowball war with the dinosaurs constantly changing between targets. They haven't had this much stress-relieving fun since when snow first fell in the Great Valley.

Balto, Boris, and Kemo soon returned to see the shenanigans the kid had got themselves in. Seeing all the fun these children were having, Balto was not willing to pass this moment up. The wolfdog eagerly jumped in to join in on their game. Boris his usual thing of complaining about the 'tomfoolery' going on around him only to be pelted by a series of snowballs for not paying attention. Kemo simply sat on the sideline with Spike. The day was spent with snow flying throughout the clearing with none of the participants being spared. The game lasted all the way until the sun had finally set.

With the sun resting beyond the horizon, the gang converged around the center of the clearing with Kemo. All the fun they all had was not enough to make them forget the promise the wolf had made to them. With a deep breath, Kemo began the story. He started off recount much of what he said earlier in the day. About how Aniu would have him watch Balto when he was little. It was a pleasant early life until one day, a great blizzard struck the land. The snowstorm lasted for several days with the pack taking shelter in one of the caves in the area; everyone except for Aniu and Balto. The two were forever lost in the storm and, even after it died down, there was still no trace of them.

"After several failed search parties, my father called it all off and believed they were dead," Kemo continued on, "As you know that was far true, but back then I held on to hope that I find Balto once again. Once I was old enough, and after a lot of heated arguments with my father, I left the pack with a few of my closest friends to find him. Over the years, life was good. We started picking up many other wolves to join us along the way. Many, many others." his voice was becoming distant as the memories flooded upon him.

"And then what happened?" Littlefoot asked warily of breaking Kemo from his thoughts.

"That's where I come I," Balto answered see his brother wasn't ready to continue yet, "You guys remember how during the serum run I fell off a cliff and was met by a wolf?" they all nodded, "Well, that was him." he pointed to Kemo, "However, we didn't know that at the time. We both thought the other was some hallucination meant to encourage us. For me seeing him helped me to embrace my wolf half."

"And for me, it made me believe that I was on the right path," Kemo snapped himself out of it and pressed on with the story, "Soon enough, I and the other wolves we came across formed a pack of our own, and life was good. Life was very good. Until _that_ day. At first, it was like any other. We were traveling through a section of the forest not far from here. I knew if we could clear it, it would save us a great deal of the day. But in my gut, something told me not all was right. Something in the wind smelled wrong. But I ignored it, and that cost me greatly. The whole place was covered in traps, human traps. It was utter chaos. Everywhere, everyone was being caught. Before I had a chance to know what was going on, a poacher shot at me. I wasn't fast enough before the bullet grazed down my face and shoulder."

"Poacher?" Cera asked, "I thought you said a human shot you."

"A poacher is a hunter who hunts with no regards for any rules of the hunt," Balto clarified, "They cheat and take far more than needed for purely selfish reasons other than food and fur to keep warm. It's considered to be very dishonorable to do so. Sadly, humans are prone to this sort of practice."

"What about your pack?" Ducky asked, "What happened to them?"

"I did what I could to protect them all," Kemo recollected the event, "I was able to confront the humans responsible, but wasn't strong enough to beat them. My injury weighed me down. I grabbed one of them by the arms, but his partner hit me with the butt of his rifle right on my wound. When I let go, the human I had grabbed kicked me off a cliff. They left me for dead and went after the rest of my pack as I fell to unconsciousness."

Kemo didn't go into detail of what happened before he fell unconscious. How he heard the sounds of his fellow pack mates screaming and hollering for help followed by a series of gunfire. Those pleas for mercy are forever trapped in Kemo's mind till what will be the end of his days.

"I... was the only one that survived." he said his voice feeling hollow and depraved of all hope.

Though he didn't go into too much detail for the children's sake, it didn't stop how they felt. It didn't take much for them to understand the implication that was being laid down. That Kemo's entire pack had been massacred, and the wolf was helpless to do anything to stop it. It was enough to bring tears to the eyes of Ducky, Petrie, and even Spike. Cera looked at the ground to avoid eye contact with the wolf. Littlefoot knew all too well what it meant to lose someone important. He can easily imagine what Kemo went through when it was happening.

"Long after the attack is where I come in again," Balto picked up the story seeing that his brother didn't have much left in him to continue, "I was walking through those woods to help clear my head, and I found Kemo passed out in the snow. I took him to the closest cave I could find and helped him mend his wounds."

"But what about the poachers?" asked Littlefoot, "Did they get away?"

"No," Balto said bluntly, "While I was helping Kemo, Jenna noticed some very suspicious men with a cart at the store. When she went to investigate the cart, she found... some dead wolves inside. When I met up with her, Jenna told me how she saw them heading out to a cabin in the woods. When Kemo was feeling good enough, we hunted them down."

"Did you... kill them?" Cera asked with hesitation.

"Balto? Kill someone?" Boris said, trying to hold the urge to laugh, "Balto could never bring himself to kill anyone?"

"No, we didn't kill them." Balto answered

"Not without a lack of trying." Kemo said under his breath that only Balto could pick up.

"But we did give them the worst scare of their lives," Balto said before anyone else caught what Kemo said, "Must've worked because those humans have never come back since."

The night sky shone among them. The light of the moon was all that could be seen, and with the story pretty much over, everyone made it to bed. Littlefoot and Cera went under the trees with Petrie behind the threehorn's crown. Boris cleared up a small patch of snow in a makeshift nest. Balto and Kemo just laid where ever they felt comfortable. That only left Ducky and Spike, who walked up to the white wolf.

"Um... Mr. Kemo?" Ducky said with a hushed voice as to not wake anyone.

Kemo opened one eye to see adopted siblings in front of him, "Yes?"

"Spike and I were wondering if we could sleep with you tonight?" the young swimmer said with such an innocent voice.

Kemo eyed the two. If they were anyone else, he would tell them to leave him alone in a harsh voice. However, these were just children, after all. He could see the eager innocent looks on their faces. Ducky was such a small happy thing, and Spike was such a curious creature. It was hard to dismiss them.

"Very well." said the wolf.

Just like that, the two dinosaurs huddled up to the ginormous wolf. Spike moved up against his side and laid his head with a yawn. Ducky shuffled in between Kemo's front legs, which he had to lift his head for her to have better access, and rested right where his leg met his chest. Kemo looked at the kind little swimmer as memories of simpler times came up in mind. Before long, Kemo laid his head back down over Ducky, leaving her head being the only thing visible from under him as she slept.

For a moment, all was calm and still. Everyone seemed to be off in a deep slumber. At least almost everyone. There was one little curious longneck who couldn't quite drift off to sleep at that very moment. Littlefoot's mind was racing with questions, and he knew just the person to turn to.

"Balto?" he said softly to not wake anyone.

The wolfdog awoke from hearing his name, and seeing it was Littlefoot, walked over to the longneck, "What's the matter Littlefoot?"

"I was just wondering," Littlefoot said, trying to keep his question short and simple for the tired wolfdog, "Why didn't you ever tell us about Kemo? Why not tell us you had a brother?"

"I was asking myself that ever since I introduced you all," Balto rested his head between his paws before he answered, "I didn't really much think about it until he and I told you that story. Kemo's life had been filled with tragedy, and with humans being responsible really painted a bad light on my timeline. I didn't want to expose you all to such a black mark on my world."

"But that's just silly," Littlefoot exclaimed, "You remember Jiao, right?" Balto nodded, "Well, he's a bad mark on my time. Was he enough to make you hate being in the Great Valley?"

"No, I guess you're right," Balto assured him, "Both of our times have their patch of darkness, but that's okay. So long as we don't let it truly affect us. Think about it like that, what was I so worried about?"

"I don't know." Littlefoot said with a giggle.

The two had a quick laugh together before drifting off to sleep. Tomorrow was to be a big day. They needed to be well-rested so that they could find Nava as soon as possible. From there, the dinosaurs could hope to find a way home. That is unless something else were to come into their path.

 **End of Chapter 4**

 **A/N: With that so comes another entry. As I said, my little break wasn't to be so long. As with fleshing out Kemo's story, we can now continue forward to where this story takes us. As always, all question can be directed here (** topic/69617/176943115/1/Time-of-Wolves-2-Q-A **), please leave a review, and see you Till next time.**


	5. He Who Talks to Spirits

**The Time of Wolves 2**

 **Chapter 5: He Who Talks to Spirits**

The hour was late in the town of Nome. Night had fallen, and the townspeople were preparing to turn in for the evening. Dingo was also making his last walk around the streets before he would return to his home to rest. It had been a dull day for Balto's eldest son. His youngest brother had left before he could get one more heckles in, his father was nowhere to be seen all day, and his mother had been sleeping most the day away. He may have been the most laid back of his siblings, but even he couldn't escape the feeling that boredom can have on someone. He just wished for some form of excitement.

"Sup bro!"

Speak of the devil. His sister, Saba, just happened to appear out of nowhere. Dingo had no idea where she gets it, but the husky had a unique talent for sneaking up on people. Perhaps his sister just wanted to see if that figment of speech of people jumping out their skins can become literal.

"Saba?" Dingo said without even a shrug. He had gotten used to Saba's antics, "What's up, sis? Are you doing better since this morning?"

"Oh yeah," Saba said while pouting over how she couldn't get one over her older brother, "I don't even remember why I was so upset with my humans to begin with." Dingo rolled his eyes. Of course, his sister would make a mountain out of a molehill only to suddenly forget that mountain even existed, "I wanted to hang out with mom, but she looked so tired when coming back from dads. Maybe I had a chance if she wasn't ambushed by Kodi."

"Wait, what?" asked Dingo.

"I know, right?" said Saba, "He completely took up most her time."

"No, I mean, what do you mean by ambush?" Dingo clarified, "Didn't he come back with mom?"

"No. I saw him come from his owner's house." Saba said, not understanding where Dingo was going with this, "Why?"

"Saba, Kodi left with mom to see dad about not feeling well, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Saba suddenly remembered, "He must've been speedy to get back before her."

"But why take up so much of mom's time when he's been with her all morning?" Dingo again asked, "Something smells fishy here."

"Well, of course it does," Saba said with confidence, "We live on a town by the beach after all."

Dingo moaned in irritation as he rolled his eyes, "Not what I mean, sis. Something seems out of place about all this."

"Like what?" said Saba sounding concerned.

"I don't know," Dingo admitted, "Let's meet up in the morning to continue this, okay?"

Saba agreed, and with that, the siblings parted ways to return to their respective homes. It might be nothing, it could be because he was tired, but Dingo had an odd feeling in his stomach. Something was up, Dingo could feel it. He'll have to wait until the next morning to start investigating. As he entered his home, the rust-colored husky hoped that his gut feelings were wrong before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Balto didn't know why, but he was running. Running through the pitch-black forest all around him. There wasn't anything chasing him. Balto just had the urge to run for safety. As he ran, a massive spike made of ice shot out of the ground in front of him. Balto swerved out of the way before he could run into it. The wolfdog sprinted off in a different direction only for another icy spike to spring up from the ground.

No matter where he went, spikes continued to shoot out of the ground close to him. Balto did his best to bob and weave away from the spikes. A couple of times, he just missed being impaled while making sure to dodge others, but it mattered not. As far as he could tell, there was no way out of this accursed forest; it just seemed to go on forever.

" _You're running out of time!_ " a voice said in the darkness, " _If you don't find me,_ _ **she**_ _will most certainly die!_ "

Columns of spikes suddenly surrounded the wolfdog on all sides. Slowly they converged on each other, leaving no room for Balto to jump through the gaps in between. The wolfdog was pushed to the center of the moving columns of icy spikes as they continued to close in. If that wasn't bad enough, the tips of these spikes were also bending inwards until they pointed at Balto. The spike's tips then began to shoot right at the wolfdog.

* * *

From underneath a large tree, Littlefoot awoke from his sleep upon hearing some sort of commotion next to him. Looking up, the little longneck saw that it was only Balto. He must be having quite the dream, for Balto was continually fidgeting in his sleep. He saw how the wolfdog's legs would run along nothing but empty air as if trying to get away from something. It was probably best not to wake him. The little longneck just thought that waking him may cause Balto to jump in fright.

Looking around, Littlefoot could see that he was the only one who was awake as of now. Cera, Petrie, and Boris were soundly sleeping under another tree. Spike was still sleeping next to Kemo, and he could see how Ducky's head was poking out from under the scruff of the giant wolf's neck. Obviously, the morning wasn't here just yet; it was probably best to get back to sleep. Littlefoot laid his head back down so that he may sleep once again. The longneck took in the scenery to wait for his eyes slowly became heavy. First blink: Littlefoot listened to the whistling of the wind through the trees. Second blink: he could make out the sound of rushing water not far from the clearing, which soothed him ever closer to sleep. Third blink: a white wolf appeared directly in front of him.

Littlefoot's eyes shot open as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. This wolf, with fur as white as snow, just came out of nowhere, with no trace, no warning. If Littlefoot had any idea of sleeping well, the sudden shock was enough for him to now be wide awake. The little longneck looked up to face the wolf who stared him straight in the eye. He wanted to look away but couldn't as he looked into the wolf's soft and comforting golden eyes. Littlefoot knew these eyes, he knew this wolf! From long ago, back when the gang was tricked to exile Balto for being a sharptooth, Littlefoot had a dream that night where this exact wolf visits him to warn that Balto was in mortal danger. How her voice, soft and wise, had convinced him to see the errors of his ways. But there was no way this could be her, could it? The wolf was just a figment of his imagination, wasn't she?

"Um…" Littlefoot struggled to come up with what to say to the wolf that just continued to stare at him, "Hello? Who… who are you?"

The white wolf didn't answer. She just continued to stare at the young longneck for a bit. Not long after, she turned around with her eyes still hanging onto Littlefoot until the wolf's back fully set. Soon she was walking out of the clearing, jumping up on the rocks in a way how Littlefoot could describe as floating through the air. On the rocks, the wolf looked back at Littlefoot in such a way that seemed to say she wanted something from him.

"Do you want me to follow you?" Littlefoot asked.

The wolf again didn't answer. She just gave him a sly smile as if he caught on. However, to Littlefoot's surprise, the wolf turned and left without so much a word. Littlefoot, still so full of questions, ran after her without even waking his sleeping friends. He climbed on the rocks to see where she went and was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of her tail passing by some trees in the distance before chasing after. Once the young longneck reached that spot, he was almost a second too late as he only again saw the wolf's tail pass by further off.

"Wait!" he hollered, "You're going too fast for me!"

But no matter how hard he tried, Littlefoot couldn't catch up with the wolf. Every time he thought he would close the distance, Littlefoot would find that he just missed her. Even as he quickened his pace, it didn't seem to matter. From around every corner, behind every tree, and through every bush, Littlefoot was always barely able to catch a glimpse of this white wolf before she would appear somewhere else entirely. But after some time, Littlefoot lost track of the wolf. He looks around to see if there were any footprints to follow, but none exist. She had just vanished as suddenly as she appeared.

It was then that Littlefoot realized just how long he had been chasing after the wolf. The forest was already beginning to light up with the coming sun. The little longneck had no idea how far he had wandered off from the clearing. He was utterly lost without his friends by his side. Funny enough, Littlefoot felt that there was a reason for the white wolf to lead him here. Hopefully, his friends will find him soon enough.

"Littlefoot!"

Littlefoot heard off in the distances after several minutes of waiting. Quickly, he shouted off so that whoever could find him. Soon Littlefoot could see Balto barreling from the trees followed by the rest of the gang. It was plain as day that there was much worry in Balto's eyes.

"Littlefoot!" Ducky exclaimed happily while riding on Spike's head, "It's so good we found you. Yep, yep, yep!"

"We so worried." said Petrie as he flew up to hug his friend's neck.

"Thanks for finding me guys," said Littlefoot, "I'm sorry if I scared anyone."

Cera let out a halfhearted laugh, "Scared? I wasn't scared. I knew we would find you," it was clear that her confidence was simply a façade, but Littlefoot chose not to call it out, "Balto, though, I thought he was going to have a heart attack."

Littlefoot turned to Balto, and immediately wished he didn't. The little longneck could see a sternness within Balto. It was no different than how his grandparents would look at him if he did something wrong. It was enough for Littlefoot to want to turn away from the wolfdog's gaze.

"Littlefoot, what were you thinking?" Balto scolded the young dinosaurs, "Wandering off into the woods at night. After what happened last time, you should've known better. You could've been hurt, run into a predator, or worse!"

Littlefoot's head slumped with each possible danger that Balto listed off, which Boris notice, "Boychik, give the kid a break. It was just a simple mistake."

"No, it's okay, Mr. Boris," Littlefoot assured the old goose. Truth is, is that Littlefoot was upset, but not at Balto scolding him. He was more upset for disappointing the wolfdog in such a way, "I'm sorry, Balto. I swear, I really didn't mean to worry you."

Balto could feel Littlefoot's resolve, and thus released a heavy breath he's been holding in since waking up to find his young friend missing, "It's okay," his voice and expression soften, "I was just worried, and a bit frightened when you disappeared on us. But I'm just happy to see you're unharmed." Balto emphasized this by placing a paw on Littlefoot's shoulder in which caused the longneck to give him a warm smile, "Just promise me one thing."

"What?"

"No more late-night hikes through the woods," his response caused Littlefoot to chuckle before happily accepting the demands, "So, with that out of the way, what were you doing all the way out here anyway?"

Littlefoot knew he had no better excuse, so might as well tell the truth, "I was… following somebody."

"Sorry, but that is simply not possible," Kemo chimed in.

"Are you calling Littlefoot a liar?" Cera sneered.

Sensing that she was just looking for an excuse to fight him, Kemo took a deep breath and explained, "No, but Balto and I smelled no others when tracking Littlefoot. Henceforth, there was no one else here."

Littlefoot couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was no one? But that couldn't be true. Littlefoot knew what he saw. The white wolf appeared to him as clear as day. She wanted Littlefoot to follow after her. But, if what Kemo said was true, then what was he following?

"Wait," Kemo said with his nose in the air, "I know this scent." the massive wolf walked only a few feet before, "Balto, have a look at this."

Balto did as his brother asked and walked over to see what Kemo saw. The gang noticed a look of confusion on Balto's face. They all went to see what these wolves found so fascinating. Looking over the two canines, everyone realized what they were looking at. In front of them stood a steep grassy hill, and at the base was none other than a cave. It looked wide enough for all of them to fit in. On high, a large piece of earth protruded from on top of the cave's opening with some small boulders along the side leading onto it. A small tree was growing from on top this slab of as well that looked to be waiting to greet any visitors passing by.

Balto turned to Kemo and asked, "Is this…?"

"Yes," Kemo cut Balto off, "This is Nava's cave." Kemo then turned his sights on Littlefoot, "How did you know this was here?"

"I didn't," Littlefoot said, which made Kemo look at him quizzically, "I swear." he was soon growing uncomfortable with everyone's eyes on him, "Honest!"

Balto could see Littlefoot's discomfort, so he went to calm his young friend down, "It's okay, Littlefoot, I believe you." the wolfdog gave Kemo a look that pled for his brother to not push this any further. The large scarred wolf gave one single blink, which meant that he would comply, "Well, we didn't come all out this way for nothing." Balto turned to the rest of the young dinosaurs, "You guys stay here. Nava's pretty old, we don't want to give the poor wolf a heart attack."

The gang agreed to lay back as Balto, Kemo, and Boris approached the cave. The trio stopped right at the mouth of the cave when Kemo let out a low howl to alert whoever was inside. From inside stepped out an old wolf. This was Nava. He stood two inches taller than Balto and possessed scruffy brown fur, which had dulled out over the years. The hair under Nava's chin was somewhat longer than the rest on his body, giving off the impression that he had a beard. His amber eyes looked over the three who stood before him from Boris to Kemo, before finally resting on Balto. His tired face soon morphed into a smile.

"Welcome, my brothers," Nava greeted the two canines, "Balto, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"Nava, it's been a long time," Balto said giving the old wolf a respectful bow, "I would like to introduce you to Boris,"

"Yes, Kemo has told me about you," Nava greeted the old goose, "From what I heard, you did a great job in raising such a fine wolf."

"Well, at least someone finally recognizes my expert parental skills." Such boasting from Boris caused Balto and Kemo to collectedly roll their eyes.

"He also made it a point to mention how tasty you are," Nava said with a chuckle. Legend has it that, for only a fraction of a second, Kemo actually cracked a smile from that, "So, what brings you to me on this fine day? It can't be just to introduce me to your adopted family member."

Balto nodded, "It's hard to explain, but strange things have been happening..."

"Yes, yes," Nava stopped Balto's explanation dead in its tracks, "I would very much want to help with that. But first, it would be rude to continue without you introducing me to the rest of your friends."

At first, Balto turned to his brother with a look that asks how he knew that. Kemo just had a look that said, of course, he did. Balto figured that, since there was nothing left to hide, might as well come clean. The wolfdog signaled to the bushes and trees that it was okay for everyone to come out. One by one, the young dinosaurs walked out into the old grey wolf's area of view. Despite the children's worried looks of meeting yet another predator, Nava did not look at all that surprised at the sight before him. If anything, there was an aura of calm that surrounded Nava as a comforting smile stretched across his face.

"Greetings, young ones," said the old wolf, "You are all from beyond time, yes?"

"Um… I guess so," Littlefoot had no idea how to answer such title, "But how did you know we weren't from around here?"

Nava found some humor in the question as it were common as asking the color of the sky, "Of course, for I have been expecting you. Though I'm no stranger to the powers of the great spirits, it is still a blessing to see them at work." the children had shock expressions on faces, well most of them, "Yes, it is by their will that you are here before us today."

"Oh, please." Cera muttered under her breath.

Nava didn't seem to hear her or, if he did, he didn't show it, "But there will be plenty of time to discuss such things," Nava stepped aside for the young ones, "Before then, please, you are all welcomed in my den to escape the cold."

There was some hesitation from the dinosaurs, but they were reminded of the stories that Balto told of Nava. If the stories were to be believed, then there was nothing for them to fear from the old wolf. Plus, it did help that there was such sincerity behind Nava's voice. It also helped that the adults of their party walked alongside them so to ease the tension. It seemed to work for all but one.

"Cera?" Littlefoot looked back to see the threehorn staying put. There was some initial confusion, but Littlefoot assured Balto that he would take care of this as everyone went inside, "Cera, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Cera said with her nose in the air, "I just don't feel like going in, that's all. I'm perfectly fine out here."

"Really?" Littlefoot looked upon her with suspicion, "Because I remember how you kept complaining about the cold since we woke up here."

"Yeah… well… I got used to it."

It was a blatant lie if Littlefoot ever heard one, "Come on, Cera, what's really going on?"

Cera huffed while trying to hide from the longneck's stares. It wasn't working, "Alright fine," she sneered in frustration, "I don't trust that guy."

"Really?" Littlefoot asked, "But Nava seems nice."

"So were Jiao and his brothers when they first came to the valley," Cera retorted, "At least until we learned how much of a creep he was."

"But Nava doesn't act like Jiao."

"Oh, open your eyes, Littlefoot!" Cera shot back, "Not even ten minutes after meeting him, and he's already spouting nonsense about spirits, destiny, and stuff. Now, who does that remind you of? I mean, we all know spirits don't exist."

At first, Littlefoot didn't know if he could believe that. Not after that encounter with the white wolf who just disappeared in thin air. But he couldn't tell that to Cera, or she'd start laughing at him, "We have no other choice but to trust him." he said before heading into the cave.

Cera just turned away and scoffed at such a notion. Surely they didn't need some crazy old wolf's help to get back home. At least that's what she hoped would be the case. Poor kid really just couldn't let go of her own sensibility of how the world works that was instilled into her for so long. Cera was raised with the sense that the world worked how she and her father had seen it worked for all their years, and anything that can't be seen as real meant it couldn't exist. Oh, how she missed the days she could blissfully believe that things such as time travel, sticks that shoot fire, and being able to fly without wings sounded like nonsensical dribble. However, those days seem to be far behind her ever since meeting Balto. The last thing she needed was to surrender another one of her sensibilities. Reluctantly, Cera entered the cave anyway, for it was better than being alone. Once inside, she could see how everyone was gathered around Nava, who was sitting where he blocked off the back of the cave. From how it looked, it seems that everyone was having quite a good time conversing with the old wolf.

"Look who has finally come to join us," Nava said in a manner that was neither mocking or condescending but welcoming, "I'm glad you join us, Cera, am I right?"

"What? Did your 'spirits' tell you that?" she couldn't help but act critical of such things.

"No. Balto did." Nava again said without any hint of animosity for her attitude. Cera just laid down quietly with her head in between her front legs.

"Please excuse her," Balto said, "They've got a spiritual leader back where they come from, and let's just say he's not pleasant."

"It's alright," Nava assured the wolfdog, "I know that it is hard for some to believe in that which is unseen." Cera grumbled to herself as they talked about her.

"Um, Mr. Nava, sir?" Petrie raised his wing in shyness.

"Please, just call me Nava," the old wolf could sense the flyer's nervousness, "What is it you wish to know, young one?"

"You see ghost, right?" Petrie asked in which Nava nodded and corrected that term was 'spirits,' "You see any here?" he was shivering when he asked that.

Nava moved his eyes around the cave in a way that was more playful than serious, "No. There are no spirits with us at this time."

"Big surprise." Cera mumbled to herself, which was really starting to earn Kemo's ire.

"Excuse me?" Littlefoot spoke up, "What did you mean by what you said earlier about us being here because of the will of the spirits. What does that mean?"

"That is a good question," said Nava, "What you are all experiencing is a phenomenon that isn't to be taken likely. For the most part, the great spirits and their interactions with us are limited. They guide us, test us, warn us, or sometimes comfort us even if we never notice they are there." The dinosaurs leaned in ever so curious, "But the great spirits are capable of much more than that. Some can control elements, tame storms, possess an individual so that his will is their own. For these spirits, time is meaningless. Which is how you've been taken from yours. They need you to accomplice something for them. Only then will you be sent back to your homes."

"If they are so powerful, then why do they need our help?" Cera asked with such a know-it-all fashion, "Why not just handle the problem themselves."

"It is because of such power why they cannot," Nava answered, "As they are the souls of the departed and are not of our world any longer, thus they have long lost their claim to it. There are limits to how much the spirits are allowed to partake in our affairs without outright interfering with us. Those that go too far are severely punished for their transgression."

"But if that's true, then how did these spirits send us to the future if they can't make us do things we don't want to?" asked Ducky.

"A rule that cannot be broken can still be bent." Nava said casually, "To open a rift through time itself a task that is rarely utilized, for it already can interfere with the lives of others. To get around it, the spirits must put you all in a position where going through the rift would have been an inevitability."

"So, they trick us." Cera said bluntly.

Nava chuckled, "If that is how you wish to rationalize it, then yes."

"But what about the reason we were brought here?" Littlefoot asked, "How are we suppose to know what that is?"

"That is not for me to say," Nava was quick to answer, "That is up to the spirit who has brought you here." The gang looked at the old wolf in confusion, "Have you not already spoken to the spirit? Not even through your dreams?" again, they all looked on in utter confusion. All except for Cera, who had a 'no due' expression on her face.

"That's why we came to you, Nava," Balto said worriedly, "I was hoping that you may have some clues to what we need to do. Maybe had a dream vision of some sort."

Nava looked on the wolfdog with suspicion, "Is that so?" he knew that Balto wasn't entirely honest, but looking through the wolfdog's eyes said that he was simply not ready to discuss it. Clearly, something was troubling Balto's mind, "Very well. I have indeed been having dream visions, but, as of late, they are unlike what I've come to expect. They seem twisted, wrong, horrific."

"Sounds like a normal nightmare to me." Cera said sarcastically.

"I know the difference between a dream and my visions," Nava asserted, "But these are unlike the visions I'm used to. You were right, Balto. Strange things are happening. But what they are, I do not know."

"So, there's no way you can help us?" Littlefoot said, sounding defeated.

Nava looked around to see how the children looked down in the dumps along with a few of the adults. It was disheartening to see them all in such a state. In his heart, Nava knew better than to admit what he was about to say but also knew it was their only chance.

"I do know of what could help," Nava's words lit a spark of hope within the group, "Far to the north here there lies a mountain abandoned by the local wildlife. Despite its appearance, the mountain is hollow and holds a secret that the great spirits hid deep within. I believe that what lies there can provide you with the answers that you seek." the little dinosaurs were ecstatic as they thanked the old wolf, "Kemo, you know the way to the Hallow Mountain. I hope it doesn't trouble you to guide them a bit longer."

"You don't have to ask me twice," Kemo replied, "I'll do whatever it takes to help my brother out."

A friendly smile stretched on Nava's face, "Then I will wish you all luck on your coming journey," at least he would before the growls of Spike's stomach echoed through, "But, perhaps you should all get something to eat before your long journey."

With that all said and done, most of the gang left the cave. The dinosaurs, except for Cera, thanked Nava for his hospitality and help as they went to feed on the trees close by. From there, only Balto, Littlefoot, and Kemo remained with Nava. Each of which had parting words for the old wolf.

"Thanks for all the help Nava," said Balto, "It really means a lot."

"Yeah. It's great to meet someone from Balto's stories." Littlefoot remark.

Nava softly laughed, "I'm flattered. But no thanks are necessary. You and your daughter saved my clan from starvation. This is the least I can do."

"Speaking of which," Balto began, "What ever happened to Niju? Last I saw you, you were determined to have him join back up with you."

Nava gave a sad nod of recognition, "I regret to say that Niju has wander where I can no longer follow in my old age.

"Good riddance," Kemo said with venom in his voice, "A wolf that puts his own selfish needs above his pack might as well not deserve one."

Nava urged Kemo to calm himself, "Even though Niju has lost his way, I still wish him peace wherever he is."

"Well, I should get back to the others before Boris starts to nag their ears off," Balto stepped up and began to exit the cave, "Littlefoot, you coming?"

"I'll join in just one moment," Littlefoot said, which Balto obliged as he walked out. Once Littlefoot was sure that the wolfdog was out of earshot, he spoke, "Nava, I was wondering, how do you know if you've seen a spirit or not?"

"Why do you ask young one?" the old wolf asked with a sly smile.

Littlefoot wanted to tell what he saw this morning, but his attention was turned to Kemo, whose eyebrow was raised. Immediately, he felt butterflies fill his stomach. His mind went back to how Kemo acted so suspicious of him when they found Nava's cave. If only the white wolf weren't so intimidating. Either way, nerves got the better of the young longneck.

"No reason." he said before joining the others.

"He's hiding something." Kemo said after Littlefoot left.

Nava just let out a hearty laugh, "He is. But out of worry and uncertainty, not malice. You should really learn to be more trusting."

"I trust Balto, so I trust them," Kemo told him, "Even if one of them drives up the walls." Nava continued to laugh, "You were also withholding information. Why didn't you tell them the full legend of what the mountain holds?" Nava's laugh has ceased as his expression became stern. Even so, the meaning behind his silence was deafening, "He's real?"

"As real as you and me." Nava answered.

Like that, something rare happened in that cave. Kemo's heart skipped a beat. Why shouldn't it if what Nava said was true? Now, with an idea of what would lie ahead was Kemo more willing to look after his honorary brother. Kemo bid Nava farewell before heading off to the others. Not long after the children were well fed, would they start their journey. This group was going to have a long day to follow. The sooner he led to Hallow Mountain, the better to leave it as well.

For the past hour, Nava watched over the group while they remained, and bid them a final goodbye as they left. More time past as Nava stayed in his cave. However, the old wolf was not alone. From deep in the unseen back of Nava's cave, a white wolf crawled out and stood behind him. Nava needn't look back. He knew that she was there.

"It is done," Nava said with looking back, "They will be on their way to the hallow mountain. I suspect they will arrive by the next day. I still believe it is risky for them to go there, especially with the young ones in tow." the white wolf didn't answer, or at least not verbally, "Yes, I know he has become quite restless ever since Balto returned from past. He has even managed to disrupt you from messaging through Balto or Littlefoot's dreams." silence filled the cave as the white wolf made a passing glance northward, "I guess you're right. This will let us know what he's up to. But are you sure you want your son to meet him, Aniu?"

Aniu closed her eyes to contemplate the question. When she opened them to face Nava, she answered, "No. But they were always destined to meet sooner or later."

 **End of chapter 5**

 **A/N: Another day, another chapter now finished. However, there is more to come. I also hope to post a bonus chapter by the end of the month to better hint at what's to come. Until then, I hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to leave a review. Till next time.**


	6. Interlude

**The Time of Wolves 2**

 **Interlude: Campfire Story**

The hour was late deep in the Alaskan wilderness. Nome's mail team had been running to their destination to the town of White Mountain since before noon. The run was long and hard, but at least now they a chance to rest after making such a good distance with Kodi as their lead dog. It was enough for the owner of the sled dogs, Mr. Simpson, to give his dogs a break as he set up camp.

With the tent and fire all set up, Mr. Simpson cooked some jerky for his dogs before making something for himself. The dog's, still in their harnesses, were lying about enjoying the tasty treats their master has given them. As their human went to his tent to sleep, the dogs gathered around the remnants of the fire to joke around and tell stories.

It was a merry old time all around. As the night grew even later, the dogs were more interested in telling scary stories around the dying fire. Luckily for them, one member of their team had just the story to put a chill down their spines.

"I have a story," said a husky named Marion. This old dog had been on the mail team longer than most of the other dogs. It wouldn't be long from now before he would have to retire, "And I can assure you all that it's a hundred percent true."

"Oh, this ought to be good." said one of Kodi's other teammates, a broadly shaped husky who was the team's former lead dog before Kodi, Kirby.

Another one of Kodi's teammates, a pudgy malamute by the name of Ralph, said, "this isn't one of those I heard from a friend of a friend's brother's roommate kind of stories, right?" the whole laughed alongside Ralph as a result.

"No, it happened to our musher," the laughing stopped dead then and there, "Or, more accurately, it happened to his father."

The sled team went from playful teasing to intrigued in a matter of an instant. None of them had ever known much about Mr. Simpson's father, for he died before most of them were pups. All they knew was that their musher inherited the delivery business before his passing.

Marion cleared his throat before he told the story, "Now, the story I'm about to say is one that has been passed down from the very sled dogs who were once there. Some of you may not know, Mr. Simpson Sr. was an Irish immigrant who moved to this country for work and opportunity. When arriving in Alaska, Sr. met an Inuit woman of which he came to fall in love and soon marry. Through her, Simpson Sr. was able to learn the lay of the land and how to survive in the wild. Mrs. Simpson would even join him during his deliveries.

One day, however, Mrs. Simpson fell horribly ill as they were making a return trip to Nome. Sr. was determined to get the love of his life into a doctor's care as quickly as possible. He knew of a shortcut along the north where a mountain lay. The path around the mountain help a steep slope that would accelerate their speed, but Mrs. Simpson abject to the idea. She said that the mountain to the north was a sacred place that man dares venture through, and made him promise to never take her anywhere near that place. Sr. relented only not realizing that in his argument with his wife, he had forgotten to stoke the fire for her before resting that night. By the next night, it as already too late. Mrs. Simpson passed away as she rode on the sled. She was buried as soon as they returned to Nome, but Sr. never did forgive himself for not saving in time.

Another year went by, and Sr. still in struck with grief, wanted to prove something to his late wife. That if he did go through the mountain in the north, he could've easily saved her. Sr. rode to the mountain path one day after his delivery in the afternoon to test his theory. He made it to the mountain and saw the slope that would have helped him so long ago, but by the time he reached it, it was already dark, and he needed to make camp. He was lucky that a cave appeared to him at the base of the mountain. After tying the dogs down, Sr. went in to see if it were safe to rest in.

To his surprise, the cave was huge. Deep enough to possibly go through the very mountain itself. To top it off, there had been no signs of any animal ever had lived there. He was ready to go back out to get the dogs before he heard a voice in the darkness.

" _It's still cold. Why haven't you started the fire?_ "

Turning around, Sr. could not believe his eyes. Standing before him was none other than Mrs. Simpson. The very same that he buried that died in his care was somehow with him in that mountain. She looked as if she had pulled herself out of the grave. Her body was shriveled, and the skin was hanging off the bones. Sr. did not wait to ask. He ran out, unhooked the dogs, and rode like hell through the night. When he got back, Sr. locked himself into his house and didn't come out for a week. He spent several nights without sleep peeking out the window, with his shotgun in hand, seeing if his undead would follow him home and haunt him some more.

Years later, after handing his job to his son, he told our musher everything that happened. Now, believe whatever you wish, but he must've been persuasive because Mr. Simpson stayed clear of going anywhere near the mountain to the north. He would even give a hard tug if any sled dog tried to lead them near there.

There is something in that mountain. Something wicked, something evil. I only pity the poor fool who would ever travel up there."

 **End of interlude**

 **A/N: With that, I hope you all enjoy this little detour from the main plot. I was hoping this could tease as to what's to come as to celebrate the season. Now that I poured three chapters in a row, I get back after I wish an update with another fic I've been neglecting. So, enjoy, leave a review, and happy Halloween.**


	7. The Curse of Hallow Mountain

**The Time of Wolves 2**

 **Chapter 6: The Curse of Hallow Mountain**

It had been a long day for Balto and the rest of the gang. After meeting up with Nava, and a short break in between, everyone was again trailing behind Kemo as the overly large white wolf led the way. Kemo was the only one within the group who knew how to get to where Nava told them all to go, Hallow Mountain. At first, Balto elected to lead, believing that it may be the same mountain he ventured through during the serum run, but Kemo stated this was a different mountain entirely. So once their bellies were full, and one last goodbye to Nava, they all set off onto their new heading.

The journey, in Balto's perspective, went on longer than it probably should've. He didn't say anything, but Balto felt that Kemo was moving at a much slower pace compared to yesterday. However, he couldn't think of why his brother would deliberately stall them. Balto had already expressed how urgent he was to get Littlefoot and the rest of the gang home as soon as possible. Balto would be sure to bring this up with him whenever they stop.

It there was anyone who didn't seem to mind that much about the slower pace, it would have to be the kids. These young dinosaurs found this to be a good enough opportunity to have fun and play in the snow. It was all just a standard fair with a bit of chasing around, some hide and seek, and topping it off with snowball fights. At first, Kemo was against all this fooling around and wished to speak out about it. Balto though convinced him not to do such and to just let the kids enjoy the moment. Kemo would back down even if the act of snowballs flying pass his head would always annoy him. There indeed wasn't any harm in letting them have fun anyway. With the pace they were all going, even if the kids did fall behind, all Balto had to do was call out to them, and everything would be fine.

As the sun began to set, Kemo once again picked out a spot where they all would rest for the night. It wasn't nearly as good as the last place everyone slept yesterday, but it would have to do. However, Kemo was keen on making sure that there was some source of water nearby that took the form of a small stream. From there, the group took this time to eat, drink, and prepare themselves for bed. Though Balto had other things on his mind.

"What's all the matters here, then?"

Balto was so deep in thought he almost didn't register Boris coming up next to him, "What?"

"I know you for a long, long time to know that's your thinking too hard face," Boris said as he planted himself right next to where Balto was sitting overlooking the field where he and the gang would sleep, "So, what's the problem, boychik?"

It's Kemo," Balto sighed, "He's been acting strange ever since we left Nava."

"Well, then go talk to him about it."

"I would, but as soon as we made camp, he ran off to patrol," Balto rested his head between his paws in frustration, "He's my brother, Boris. He's the last thing I have connecting me to my past. If something's wrong, I wish he'd just tell me so I could help."

"Balto, I think there's something you should know," Boris placed one of his wings over Balto's shoulder to comfort the wolfdog over what he was about to say, "Your brother, Kemo, is a paranoid lunatic!"

"You know, despite what Stella says, you're not funny." Balto shot back.

"I'm serious!" Boris relented, "I wouldn't be surprised if Kemo thinks his own shadow was up to something."

"Uh-huh," Balto said with much skepticism, "And you're not just saying that because he tried to take a bite out of you that one time?"

"No! Of course not!" Boris exclaimed, but a look from Balto was enough for him to fess up, "Okay, maybe just a little."

Balto just rolled his eyes at this old goose's antics, but any further conversation was halted as a sudden loud – shrill scream pierced through the wood. Balto, knowing it was one of the kids, shot up to his feet and rushed to wherever it came from. In no time, he found that the source was none other than Ducky. The little swimmer was crouched on the riverbed with her arms covering herself as she shook in terror. Balto was mortified to see her in this sort of state. Ducky was, by far, the cutest and most innocent of the group. If anyone were to hurt her, there would be hell to pay. It was not long after Balto got there before everyone else arrived as well. Littlefoot and the gang were also concerned when seeing their friend so terrified. Ducky only seemed to calm down slightly when her brother, Spike, approached to comfort her.

"Ducky! Are you okay?" Balto asked worriedly.

At first, she could hardly answer. It wasn't until Spike gave her a few comforting licks did she find her voice, "There-there's something out there." She pointed into the darkness of the woods, "It was trying to get me."

Balto was quick to leap into action, "Boris, stay here and watch over the kids. Kemo, with me!"

Balto and Kemo barreled into the forest to find whoever dared scare their friend. It wouldn't even matter how dark it was, for wolves usually did their best hunting at night. They were determined to find this guy no matter what. However, it was a task that would be easier said than done. Despite how long the two canines searched, there was nothing they could find. It wasn't as if this guy got away or something. No, there was simply no trace of anyone ever being there. There was no print, no scent, no nothing. Balto knew that there was no use in continuing the search and had to admit defeat before heading back. When Balto and Kemo returned, they saw how Ducky, more or less, recovered from her traumatic experience with the help of the gang by her side.

"Look! They back!" Petrie pointed out to the others.

Everyone quickly took notice of the two walking out of the woods. All at once, they asked questions of if the two canines caught anyone. Balto knew the kids would be somewhat disappointed with the answer.

"Guys," Balto said as soon as he had everyone's attention, "I hate to say this, but we didn't catch anyone."

At the hearing of this news, the gang looked shocked that neither Balto or Kemo caught the one sneaking around them. Others, like Ducky, were frightened that whoever it was would come back to get them. One, however, was simply annoyed to hear it all.

"So, you let him get away?" Cera said with a mightily disappointed tone in her voice.

"We did the best that we could." Kemo answered.

"More like one of you didn't try hard enough." the young threehorn mumbled her retort.

Her mumbling was unable to hide from a wolf's heighten ears, "Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying," Cera said in a huff, "You're the one who went out on patrol to make sure we would all be safe sleeping here tonight. So, how did something manage to get through and scare Ducky?"

"I did search the perimeter, and didn't notice anything to be alarmed with until I heard her scream."

"Right…" Cera sarcastically stated as if she had finally found the means to put the so-called 'mighty wolf' down a peg, "Sure you weren't just taking a nap?"

A low growl escaped Kemo's throat. He was nearly at the end of his rope when it came to Cera, "Listen here, you little bra…"

Immediately, Balto and Littlefoot jumped in between their respective friends to hold them back. These two knew well enough to recognize when either Cera or Kemo were gearing up for a fight that would be anything but verbal. Considering what had transpired just recently, this was something none of them needed right now.

"Kemo, heel!" Balto said sternly, "We don't need this."

"Yeah, Cera, stop it." Littlefoot said as he wrapped his tail around Cera's chest to pull her back.

But neither was listening as Kemo looked past his brother and at the young threehorn, "You should learn some respect, kid."

"Tell me what to do, and I'll…" Cera tried to get into a run, but Littlefoot grabbed her by the tail with his mouth before she had the chance.

"Enough, both of you!" Balto commanded, which did get everyone to quiet down. Soon after, he walked right up to Kemo, and looked the towering wolf directly in the eyes, "Kemo, I mean it, calm down. If you're itching for a fight, then you can take me on. But we both know how that always turns out." Kemo stared Balto down for quite some time, but in the end, he flinched before walking off, grumbling to himself, "Cera, this isn't the time to try and show someone up. Truth is, the guy got away, and there's nothing we can do about it now." Cera huffed as she walked off.

Balto sighed to himself now that, that was all over. Those two had been at each other's throats ever since they met. If anything, Kemo's feud with Cera was shaping up to be far worse than the one he has with Borse. Why did these two clashes so badly, Balto could only guess? But, now that their fighting was over, for now, Balto could now get at the heart of the issue.

"Ducky?" Balto's voice lost its sternness as he addressed the swimmer, "Are you doing okay?"

Ducky nodded her head, "I'm doing much better. Yep, yep, yep." despite the chipper demeanor, she was still quite shaken from the ordeal.

"If you wouldn't mind, why don't you tell exactly what happened?" Balto's request caused Ducky to shudder at merely thinking about it, "Hey, it's okay. Whoever it was, they're long gone by now. You know, as long as Kemo and myself are here, nothing's going to happen to any of you. I promise."

His words sparked a bit of relief within Ducky as she finally spoke of what happened, "I just minded my own business playing along the stream when I saw something moving in the bushes. I didn't see his face, but I did see these big red eyes looking at me, and his voice was scratchy and made my back all shivering cold when he spoke."

"What did he say, Ducky?" Littlefoot asked.

"It said, 'Come find me.'"

Sleep did not come easy for anyone that night. Each and every one of them had been affected differently by what had occurred. Some were scared, some were on edge, but none were quite as affected as Balto. For the last few nights, he's been having dreams of being attacked by a red-eyed figure, and what Ducky described matched almost to a T. It wasn't just the eyes or voice that gave it away, it was what was said. 'Come find me.' those words were what Balto heard before each of those dreams ended. It couldn't be a coincidence. But Balto did his best to put it at the back of his mind. It didn't matter as long as Balto kept his resolve. He promised he was going to get the kids home, and that was what he was going to do. No matter what kind of horrors he had to face to do so.

The walk that morning almost mirrored everyone's sentiments of the previous night. The entire group walked the same pace they had before, only now in silence. Even the children didn't feel up to playing as they did before. It was as if they finally understood the unknown danger this new time could offer. Throughout the rest of the journey to Hallow Mountain, the young dinosaurs would continuously look over their shoulders in hopes to never see any red-eyed creatures stalking around. The tension was becoming so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Thankfully, one little longneck was beginning to get bored by all the unnerving silence.

"Hey, Balto?" Littlefoot whispered to the wolfdog, "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Balto was too focused on the road ahead that he nearly double-take over someone addressing him, "Oh yeah. I'm just a bit tired is all. Last night was a lot more eventful than I thought it would be."

"You're telling me," Littlefoot responded with a chuckle, "For a second, I thought you and Kemo were actually going to fight."

"Well, to be honest, it wouldn't have been the first time." Balto explained, "We've been in several skirmishes over the years. But I always manage to get the better of him each time."

"You've beaten him?" Littlefoot did his best to keep his voice down to not garner too much attention, "But, he's so big."

"Don't remind me," Balto said with a slight chuckle, "He's tried to use his superior size to win on more than one occasion, but I always end up on top."

"That's only because you cheat!" Kemo stated without looking back and surprising Littlefoot that he heard them.

Balto smirked as he knew Kemo would react this way, "Did I also mention he's a sore loser?" he said without even mustering a whisper.

Some of the other kids ended up overhearing the whole thing and giggled for a bit. It was nice to have a bit of levity after the previous night. It was well needed as it helped distract them somewhat as Kemo was leading them up a large hill. At least it was no longer dead quiet around them anymore as the other children were holding conversations with one another.

"There was something else that I wanted to talk about him." Littlefoot whispered even softer to Balto in the hope that Kemo wouldn't hear.

"I'm all ears."

"Well, is it just me or has he been acting weird lately," his words caused Balto to raise an eyebrow, "Sorry. I only ask because I don't know for long as you do."

"It's okay," Balto reassured the little longneck, "To be honest, I've noticed it too. What gave it away for you? Was it the slower pace we've been walking lately?"

"Kind of," Littlefoot replied before checking to make sure Kemo wasn't listening, "But last night before I went to sleep, I heard him come back from wherever he went after the argument. Before he went to sleep, I heard him say something along the lines of, 'We shouldn't even be here.' I don't know why, but I think he's afraid of where we're going."

That made sense to Balto. Kemo's odd behavior started immediately after they left Nava after all. But that still left some unanswered questions, mainly, what could be in these mountains to make someone as fearless as Kemo afraid? Balto had to get to the bottom of this if they were going to proceed on.

"We're here." Kemo interrupted as sat from on top of a hill.

Everyone quickly climbed up the hill to join him, and their destination is in sight. The young dinosaurs looked up and marveled at the icy peaks of Hallow Mountain. However, their relief of reaching their goal was cut short when Kemo showed that they would have to climb up another hill to reach the only cave entrance. With every step they got closer, though, they feel a sense of unease emanating from the mountain. It was as if every fiber of their being was telling them to run as far away from here as physically possible. Looking around, it would seem that nature shared the same sentiments. The tree lines lined up entirely outside the perimeters of the mountain; any tree or shrubbery within that perimeter looked to have been long since dead.

An eerie silence surrounded them all the closer they reached the cave entrance. Other than them, there was absolutely nothing alive around here. The entire mountain might as well be a void of emptiness. It was wrong; this whole place was wrong. A place that no one should've ventured lightly. But they needed to continue on. This mountain was the only lead on how to send the dinosaurs home. At least, that's what Balto kept thinking to himself with every step the group took.

At last, they made it to the top of the hill, and therefore, the cave entrance into the mountain. Just when they thought any amount of unease would cease from there, they were sadly mistaken. The mouth of the cave looks just like that, a mouth. Wide with jagged rocks protruding from the top like teeth ready to bite down on whatever may enter. Even with the young dinosaurs finding Alaska to be freezing cold, the air seeping out of the mouth sent chills down their collective spines. However, it was far too late to turn back now.

"Well, like I said to Jenna, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can all go home," Balto said to everyone before he moved closer to the cave entrance, "Well, guys, let's go."

"No!" Kemo jumped in the way of Balto before the wolfdog could set foot in the mountain, "The children should stay outside."

"What?!" Cera shouted in disbelief, "After walking all the way up here, you expect us to just stay put?"

"It's for your own protection." Kemo exclaimed.

"Protection?" Littlefoot thought out loud.

"Kemo, I think it's time you tell us what's going on," said Balto, "You've been acting weird ever since leaving Nava, and I think, as your brother, I have a right to know what's troubling you."

Kemo looked all around, seeing that all eyes were on him, and could see that this was a battle he had no chance of winning, "I don't think I need to tell any of you that this place doesn't feel right. If what Nava told me was correct, then that means the legends are true. There truly is something lurking within the depth of Hallow Mountain. Something wicked and evil. It's no place for children, hell, we shouldn't even be here for that matter."

"Oh, yes. I completely agree." Boris said halfheartedly as he walked up to Balto to pull his head close and whisper in his wolfdog's ear, "What did I tell you, boychik? Coo-coo."

"Now's not the time Boris," Balto pulled his head away from the old goose so he may address Kemo once again, "Kemo, what is exactly in there to be so worried about?"

"One who was supposed to watch over these lands, but instead went mad for reasons unknown." Kemo spoke with words passed down to him by Nava years ago, "In there lies the Wendigo."

There was an aura of confusion that swept a majority of the group. Balto, on the other hand, groaned when hearing that word and said to himself, "Not this again."

"Wendigo?" said Petrie, even though he didn't know what it was that didn't stop him from being scared, "What's a Wendigo?"

"I remember!" Ducky chimed in, "It's what that dog whose hunting us thinks we are."

"It's nothing. It's just a myth." Balto tried to ease everyone before it was too late.

"It's not a myth." Kemo retorted.

Balto snapped at his brother, "Kemo, you're not helping!"

"But Balto, if it's really nothing to worry about, why not tell us what it is?" Littlefoot asked.

Balto sighed, now knowing how Kemo must've felt when being put on the spot earlier, "The Wendigo is a cannibalistic monster that lurks around in dark forest to eat anything deemed alive. It mostly likes to go after humans. Wendigos would also occasionally possess people into also becoming Wendigos by making them eat their friends and loved ones." The young dinosaurs were practically petrified when hearing such a tale, "Guys It's alright. It's just a bedtime story human tell their children to keep them from wandering into the woods at night."

"That would explain the inconsistencies," Kemo stated, "What, did you hear that from one of your pet friends?"

"That's just the way humans tell it." Balto clarified.

"Humans believe the world is round. I don't take stock in what they think."

"Yeah, that is pretty stupid." Cera agreed with Kemo.

"It is the truth." said Balto.

Cera mockingly looked around her, "Looks flat to me."

"Well, that's because the world is so big and we're so… okay, we're getting off-topic here!" Balto hoped to get the conversation back on track.

Kemo continued on as if the previous tangent never happened, "For starters: there has only ever been one Wendigo, and he's as every bit horrid if not worse than what the humans believe. Our legends tell that Wendigo was once a Great Spirit, a guardian, and protector of the land, but somewhere down the line, he began to change. He became cruel and vile. The land he was sworn to protect, he instead found ways to terrorize. Until finally, he did something so heinous that he was forever banished from the spiritual planes and into the mortal realm. Never again will he ever be able to crossover into heaven or hell. It is said that this mountain has been his prison ever since."

"Look at the big bad wolf scared of a ghost." Cera whispered to Littlefoot, who shooed her away, believing Kemo could hear that.

"Wendigo is a Great Spirit," Kemo corrected her, "He's far more powerful than a mere ghost." With that, he turned to Balto once more, "Balto, I know you care for these children. That's why I ask you to not let them venture any further from here."

Balto looked to the kids and then at Kemo pondering on what he should do. He had to admit, he wasn't quite familiar with the nature of spirits or the legend surrounding them. But there was one thing he was sure of, and that was Kemo. Regardless of the wolf's dour demeanor, Balto has never once known Kemo to lie or lead him astray. Kemo was as earnest as they come, and, as much as he would like for Littlefoot and the gang to accompany him, Balto would not needlessly risk the children's safety if Kemo believed it to be that dangerous.

"Boris, stay out here and watch the kids." Balto said with all of the dinosaurs' groan in disappointment.

"We didn't come all this way just to sit around and do nothing." Cera spoke out.

"Listen, I trust Kemo's intuition, so if he says it's too dangerous for you guys, then I believe him," Balto walked up to Kemo signaling he was ready to head in, "Don't worry. We'll be back before you know it."

Now that Balto had said his piece, he and Kemo both went into the cave and began their venture through the dark depths of Hallow Mountain. Stepping through the cave felt like quite a task in of itself. It was as if stepping into another place and time. The air sent an unnatural chill to their system despite the amount of fur they wore. The floor beneath their feet was coarse, rough, and irritated with jagged rock and brittle ice cover it all. The sun's rays stopped just inches from the mouth, leaving hardly any illumination any further onward; it was a good thing that wolves can see in the dark. So disturbed was the atmosphere that Balto was looking for the sign that said 'abandon all hope ye who enter here' would be placed.

The two canines continued to walk deeper into the long cold dark for what already felt like an hour. There was nothing but the sounds of the brittle ice creaking, cracking, and crunching from under their feet. The two came across a three-way junction in their path in which Balto decided to use the middle pathway. Hopefully, it was a sign that they were making some real headway. However, it didn't help this uneasy feeling that they were being watched.

"So, how much do you know about Wendigos?" Balto asked to break this uneasy silence.

"Only what Nava has told me," Kemo answered, "And again, there is only one Wendigo. Those humans and their pets have really rotten your brain. Exactly why you should move into the forest with me, so you can grow some real sensibilities."

"Nah, I like Nome and my boat just fine," Balto before gearing the conversation back on track, "So about _this_ Wendigo, is he really as bad as you made him out to be?" Kemo nodded, "What about that whole forced cannibalism thing? That holds any truth to it?"

"Oh, yes. I've heard of stories involving that." Kemo answered, "Story goes that during a terrible winter, food had become more scarce than normal. As the guardian of the forest, Wendigo was supposed to help, but he had his own twisted method of doing so. He took away the inhibitions of both carnivore and herbivores' dietary habits, so they would eat anything or anyone, friend or foe, foolish enough to be in their way. He even took away their will of feeling full, so they would never be sated from hunger ever again. You have no idea how many humans and animals suffered because of that. I didn't bring it up because I didn't want to frighten the children any further than you already have."

"I thought Nava said Great Spirits couldn't interfere with the living," Balto stated, "How was it that Wendigo got away with that?"

"Like Nava said, a rule can't be broken can still be bent, and Wendigo was all about bending the rules." Kemo answered, "Legend has it that the only reason he ended up here was that he broke one of those rules."

"And what did he do that finally warranted a punishment?" Balto asked.

"He killed someone in cold blood."

After their little talk, the two canines came across yet another three-way junction. In fact, this one looked a bit too familiar. The reason for that came when Balto saw his and Kemo's paw prints just inches in front of them.

"Did… did we just go around in a circle?" he asked.

"Can't be. We were going straight this whole time." Kemo argued.

Balto tried to wrap his head around this, but alas, he had no answers to this conundrum, "Okay, they can't all just loop around. We're going need to split up. I'll take the left tunnel, and you take the right. If we find anything, we'll howl to each other."

Kemo agreed with this plan before they ultimately split up into their respective tunnels. A few minutes down his tunnel and Balto was beginning to regret his plan. The air felt heavier now that he was utterly alone. The cold enveloping his very being as if to freeze him from the inside out. Even the shadows felt like eyes were hiding in the dark. It was like the darkness of the cave would swallow him up at any moment.

Before Balto thought he would be lost in his own deed, he heard it. A howl. Kemo's howl. Balto ran back the way he came posthaste. His heart swelled up with the hope that he would no longer feel alone in the dark. Soon he would rendezvous with his brother and be out of here. But in one fell swoop, all that hope was dashed from under him.

From right in front of his path laid a dead end. Balto halted as fast as he could, only skidding just inches from hitting the wall ahead. Balto was beyond confused by this point, he could swear that this was precisely where came from. There was no sign of a cave-in or any disturbances in the dirt. It was as if this wall just appeared out of thin air. Feeling a tad desperate, Balto hollered for Kemo and even resorted to howling for help, hoping he would be heard. But there was no reply back to his howl. Balto didn't want to admit it, but with no scent markers or other indication forced him to face the truth, the wolfdog was lost and perhaps trapped in the cold – dark depth of Hallow Mountain.

* * *

Outside of the mountain, the dinosaurs tried all their might to entertain themselves as Balto and Kemo explored the cave. However, these efforts were turning fruitless as there was not much in the way of keeping their attention. It didn't help matters that the young ones still found the quiet – foreboding mountain to be very creepy, and being so close to it made their hearts run cold just looking at it. Every minute spent there waiting felt like hours of Balto and Kemo was gone. Soon, however, one of them was becoming very impatient with all of this sitting around and waiting.

"Okay. You know what? I'm tired of doing nothing." Cera said as she got up and walked towards the cave.

Before she could make it, Boris jumped in front of her and threw up a wing to usher the threehorn, "And where do you think you're going?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Cera asked rhetorically, "I'm going to go see what's taking them so long."

"But Cera, we're not supposed to go in there." Littlefoot said in protest.

"Kemo said it was too dangerous. He did, he did." Ducky added.

Cera just huffed, "I'm not a scaredy egg like that dumb old wolf. Besides, isn't anyone else the least bit concerned about what's taking them so long?"

"Maybe Wendigo eat them." Petrie assumed with nervous fear in his voice.

"Don't say that!" Littlefoot shot back, "Balto wouldn't go down without a fight."

"Yeah, well, how can you know if they are in trouble if we don't go to find out?" Cera said with obviously no signs of deviating from her plan.

"Children, I understand your concerns, really," said Boris, "But the fact remains that Balto told us to stay here and wait for him."

"Actually, he told you to stay out here." Cera corrected smugly.

Annoyed and flummoxed by the girl's stubbornness, Boris struggled to find the right words to rebuttal her with. Cera, on the other hand, took this opportunity to sneak past the distracted old goose and made her way into the mountain. Seeing this, Littlefoot ran after his friend in the hope of stopping her from doing something foolish. Spike, not knowing what was exactly going on, also went into the cave after them while carrying Petrie and Ducky on his back. By the time Boris came up with an argument, it was too late, the children were already inside the cave and going deeper within the mountain.

"Ow, what am I going to do with those kids?" Boris went after them as well but stopped just short of the cave's jagged maw. He was a bird after all, and thus had a knack to choosing to fly from danger, "Come on, get a hold of yourself. You have to go in there to get those kids." He began debating himself, "If you don't, you'll never be able to live with yourself. Besides, if anything happens to them, Balto will kill you. Oh, don't be ridiculous, Balto wouldn't do something like that. He loves you like a father, which is why… which is why Kemo will do it for him." Boris waddled his way through the cave entrance, "Wait, children! Come back!"

But the old goose was too late. The children were already well deep in the mountain's tunnels far ahead of him. Though, they weren't traveling exceptionally fast through the icy cavern. Needless to say, the unnatural chilled air and the eerie silence struck a nerve with some of them, such as Ducky and Petrie. Despite the dark and creepy nature of the tunnels, the five dinosaurs tread onwards. Most in part, thanks to the young threehorn who wandered in with reckless abandoned unknowingly having her friends tag along behind her. Unaware Cera was of the danger she was leading them to.

"Cera, maybe this was a bad idea," said Littlefoot as he was becoming a bit unnerved from being inside the mountain, "After all, Balto did tell us to wait for him for a reason. Maybe we should just go back outside with Boris."

"Came on Littlefoot, all we're going to do is see what's taking them and that's it," Cera replied as she continued moving on, "If nothing's wrong, we'll right back out before they even knew we were here."

"Fine," Littlefoot reluctantly complied as he too was concerned for Balto's well-being, "Let's just hurry up. I don't like this place."

"Yeah, well, we're just to have to…" Cera stopped herself as she heard something off in the distance, "What was that?"

"What?" Littlefoot said in confusion, "I didn't hear anything."

"I thought I heard…" Cera looked to her friends and saw a noticeable sign of concern on their faces, "Never mind. It was probably just some dumb rock falling in a puddle." She said before walking again.

Regardless of what she would have the gang believe, Cera was quite frightened of being in the inside this mountain. Those earlier acts of courage were merely just her trying to put on a brave face for her friends. Which meant Cera couldn't reveal that she, in fact, did hear something in the shadows. A voice that the threehorn didn't recognize in the slightest. A voice she could swear she heard calling out in the dark, calling out for her. Littlefoot was right, this place was creepy. With the piercing cold air, to its deathly silence, and worse of all was this feeling of being watched. Cera tried not to bother peeking around because she assumed if something was out there that her friends would see and point it out first. However, out of curiosity, she peeks just from the corner of her eye and, for just a quick moment, saw something moving through the darkness. It caught Cera by surprise that she stopped dead in her tracks right then and there.

"Cera?" Littlefoot called out when his friend just stopped in front of them all of a sudden, "What's wrong?"

For once, the headstrong threehorn didn't have an answer, "I… I don't know," was the best she could come up with, "I'll be right back. I've got to check something out."

Cera then split from the gang as she went after whatever it was she saw. Walking over to where she saw it move, Cera saw another passageway hiding along the pitch-black confines of the cave and thus pressed on. She couldn't have seen it for but a second, but Cera was sure that whatever it was had fur upon its body. With any luck, it could be Balto or Kemo. Though it wouldn't explain why they would run right past them without hesitation. Deeper down, Cera walked before she heard something just ahead. Moving further, she recognized the sound.

Someone was crying.

That got Cera questioning: who was crying, was it that thing she saw earlier, was it just some innocent creature who wound up lost within these caves? Those questions would soon be answered as she came out from the passageway into a small cavern. Walking further in, Cera saw who was crying. It was a creature that she didn't entirely recognize. Said creature was sitting on its rear end with its fur all matted and dirty. As Cera got closer, the louder the creature's disparaging sobs became, and the more she realized that this creature was speaking to itself.

Closer, she could barely hear it saying, "…Please, please, I'm sorry… I never wanted this… oh, please forgive me… I didn't mean to… it wasn't me… it was _him_ … it's all his fault… he made me do it!"

"Hello?" Cera didn't know why she spoke out towards that thing. Maybe she was just too frightened to hear whatever else it had to say, "Are you okay?"

The creature suddenly stopped its mad ramblings to lift his head up and turn it slowly towards Cera. From there, the young threehorn could see the antlers from on top the head, and the face, though slightly ragged, was elongated in a manner she remembered of an animal Balto once described. A caribou, a fellow leaf eater. Though that fact did little to ease Cera, for this caribou looked off. It was hard to make out exactly why, as her eyes weren't too well adjusted to the dark. But she could see that something was dripping from his mouth, and he was staring in a way that made her skin crawl. Suddenly, he got up on its long legs and walked behind a stalagmite in the middle of the enclosed space. Cera, despite her better judgment, went to the other side of the stalagmite to meet him halfway, and from that end, she saw nothing more. Somehow the caribou had vanished in thin air. More freaked out than ever, Cera turned around to head back to where she left the gang.

"LOOK AT WHAT HE MADE ME DO!"

The caribou appeared in front of Cera and gave the threehorn a terrible freight that she jumped up on her hind legs and to fall on her back. At this close of a distance, Cera could make out just what made this caribou so unsettling to her. His eyes, they stared in a crazed manner that Cera feared what was going through its head, and the liquid dripping from its mouth was none other than blood. If that wasn't enough, the caribou held onto the final syllable of its last word that it echoes off the wall until it morphed into an unholy howl, all the while inching ever closer to the young threehorn. In the act of desperation, Cera covered her eyes and prayed, pray that this monstrous caribou would go away.

"Cera?"

Cera opened her eyes again to a familiar voice. Now, where the caribou once stood was Littlefoot looking down in confusion at her. Why was he looking at her like that? Did he not hear or see the caribou that had loomed over her? The only way out of the enclosed space would have to be the passage that Cera went through, so there was no way it could've gotten away without bumping into Littlefoot. Could it have all been a part of Cera's imagination? Was she just jumping at shadows? No, Cera felt that thing's gaze on her and how she could still feel it even if she couldn't explain how.

"Cera? Are you okay?" Littlefoot said once again to gain his friend's attention.

"Um…" Cera scoped the area again just to make sure there was nothing there. When satisfied with her observation, she got back to her feet, "Yeah. I guess I was just hearing things."

Relieved that she was okay, Littlefoot was more than ready to leave, "Come on. The others are waiting for us."

"Yeah, let's get out of this place." Cera replied.

Littlefoot didn't even stop to make sure if he heard that right. Was Cera really suggesting that they forget what she started and head back outside? Not that he was complaining, this place creeped Littlefoot out more than anyplace he could ever think of. It was just odd hearing someone as headstrong as Cera go back on her own cause.

After a moment of walking back through the pass, the two dinosaurs were back where they had left. However, something was wrong. Petrie, Ducky, and Spike were missing. Littlefoot was confused, he told those three to stay put before going to get Cera. What on earth compelled them to leave from this spot. Looking around, Littlefoot saw that there were more tunnels around than he remembered. Perhaps they went into one of those for whatever reason. There was only one way to find out.

"We're going to have to split up." Littlefoot said as he turned to one of the new tunnels.

Though Cera was now more than ready to get out of this mountain, she wasn't going to abandon her friends to whatever other horrors may crawl in this mountain, "Alright, and once we find them, let's get out of here."

Littlefoot agreed to that before finally splitting up in different directions. Little did they know of the trials and tribulations they would be forced to face within the bowls of Hallow Mountain.

* * *

When Kemo agreed to this whole thing, no way in his life did he believe he would have to go through the forbidden place such as Hallow Mountain. But here he was, split up from his brother in perhaps the worst places for that to have happened. Is he didn't owe those kids for bringing his brother back to the present, Kemo would probably be done with this whole mess. Lord knows what would happen if that cougar, Lumac, found out he was away from his hunting grounds. Kemo would rather chase after that freeloader than wander around in this godforsaken place where his instincts were telling him to run away.

"Do it for the kids, Kemo," he reminded himself, "Do it for the kids."

Before he knew it, Kemo came upon an opening in which lights were shining through. Perhaps he had found the center of the mountain. The white wolf did what he and Balto agreed upon if any of them stumbled onto anything and howled through the tunnel in hope Balto would hear it.

As Kemo would wait for his brother, he would go into the light to survey the area. Walking through, Kemo looked on dumbfounded at what he was seeing. He had somehow ended up outside in a forest of which snow was pouring down. Kemo was at a loss for words, for he believed that nothing was able to grow this close to the mountain. The wolf went on guard, ready for anything.

 _"_ _Kemo_ _."_

Kemo tensed up at the sound of his name seamlessly coming from the trees. However, as the voice continued, Kemo felt softened from his tension. This voice, he recognized the soft – angelic rhythm of it. But that should be impossible. Kemo was sure he would never hear this voice again, but the temptation of knowing was growing too great. So, without hesitation, Kemo ventured even deeper into the forest. The more he followed the voice, the more his hopes began to rise. Once the scarred wolf had found the source of the voice, Kemo was met with such a familiar sight. Before him was a female wolf sitting with her back facing him. Her beautiful chestnut fur shined in the sunlight in such a way that took Kemo's breath away as it did when he first laid eye on such beauty.

"Jem?"

In an instant, the chestnut furred wolf whipped her head around at the mention of her name. At that moment, her soft – amber eyes met his, and there was no longer any doubt in Kemo's mind. This was Jem: beautiful, kind, and the love of Kemo's life.

How long ago it was when Kemo and his pack once stumbled onto her scavenging for food before taking her in. There on, Kemo did what he could to help Jem integrate into a pack society, even teaching her how to properly hunt. It wasn't long after which before these two would fall in love and vow to be by each other's side through thick and thin. Kemo believed such things would last forever until that one fateful day of which his whole pack was annihilated by the human poachers. But in the back of Kemo's mind, he could've sworn that Jem was also…

"Kemo!" Jem broke the wolf from his train of thought, "My love, how I missed you so."

Jem then ran over to her mate, and Kemo also started running to meet her halfway. Once making contact, the two wolves lovingly nuzzled up against each other for the first in the longest time. It was her from the voice, scent, and gentle touch; this was his beloved Jem alive and well. Kemo no longer questioned how such things were so.

"Oh, Kemo, I knew you would find me." Jem said, still nuzzling into Kemo's puffy neck.

"I would brave this mountain a hundred times over if I knew it meant seeing you once more." Kemo closed his eyes to better take in her scent.

"I don't have any doubts about that," said Jem, "After all, we've been waiting for you."

"We?"

Kemo opened his eyes, and all around, he saw that out of the tree spawned more wolves. But these weren't just any wolves; these were all members of Kemo's old pack. Many of which the scar-faced wolf knew were slaughtered all those years ago. The further they stepped into the light, did Kemo also notice their flesh was in the midst of decay. The longer he stood there, the closer they came with hatred in their eyes.

After the initial shock of seeing his undead packmates, Kemo felt something warm and wet pouring onto his chest. Pulling back, he saw that the white fur of his chest was stained with blood. Looking back to his mate, Jem had changed. The female now possessed a bullet size hole in her chest that oozed blood. No longer did her face have the loving gaze of the mate he once knew. Instead, her face held a sadistic grin and eyes fill with malice.

"It's about time you paid for what you did to us."

* * *

If there were any time where Petrie had regretted his life decision, it would be now when he came into this cave. Why, oh, why didn't he just wait outside with Boris instead of allowing himself to dragged in here? Even the outside of the mountain freaked him out for some reason. However, there was no one to blame for his current predicament right now than himself. When Littlefoot went to check up on Cera, he specifically told Petrie and the others to stay put, but that all changed when the tiny flyer heard Littlefoot's voice call out for them. At the time, maybe Petrie should've listened when Ducky said how she didn't hear anything or how it was coming from elsewhere in which Littlefoot didn't go.

"You hear that?" Petrie turned his head to the side to hear better, "It sound like Littlefoot."

Ducky did her best to hear as well but was met with nothing, "I don't hear anything. Nope, nope, nope." Spike nodded his head to agree with his sister.

 _"_ _Ducky, Petrie, Spike. Come on, guys, we found a way out."_

"You hear? Littlefoot found way out!" Petrie said ecstatically as he flew through a tunnel he heard his friend speak.

"But Petrie, that's not where Littlefoot and Cera went!" Ducky called out.

However, Petrie wasn't thinking straight at the time. If anything, he was probably more anxious to leave these caves more than anyone. Petrie was always farthest from the bravest member of the gang, but the fear he's feeling since entering has been on another level. The meek little flyer found himself practically jumping at the slightest sounds or hint of a shadow. If anything, he was just so desperate to get out of here.

Now, out of that desperation, Petrie found himself flying alone and even more lost than ever before. His thoughts were running wild with speculations of what was going to happen to him. Would he ever see his friends again? Will he be lost in this scary cave forever? Or, worse, will he run into the Wendigo that Kemo said lived in these very caves.

Either way, Petrie was flying so frantically that he didn't watch out for the stalactites on the roof of the cave. Suddenly he accidentally hit one with his wing and began spiraling out of control. Such only ended when Petrie crashed through the cave wall and down a pocket on the other side. After the crash, Petrie slowly got to his feet and rubbed his sore beaks.

"Now, me wish me stay outside," Petrie said in exhaustion. The young pterodactyl looked up to see how deep he was. The hole that Petrie crashed through was only a few feet high, "It not so high. Me just fly up."

Thankfully there was more than enough room in this small pocket for Petrie to us his wings. However, when he was only an inch off the ground, everything around him started shaking. The sudden surprise caused Petrie's wings to stiffen and fall back to the floor. Looking around, to Petrie's shock and horror, the walls started moving. No, not just moving, but closing in. No sooner after realizing this, Petrie began to panic. There was already no room to fly up in such a short amount of time, but if he didn't act soon, Petrie would find himself completely crushed.

* * *

Unlike many of the others, Ducky and Spike were not entirely scared off from being in the caves. Why would they when they had each other? No matter where they were, Ducky always felt safe whenever she rode on top of her little – big brother, and Spike was happy to for the company of his big – little sister. Though, neither of which enjoyed being in this dark and gloomy mountain. Worse of all was that they had now been completely separated from all of their friends. First, it was Balto and Kemo, then Cera and Littlefoot, and now even Petrie had left them.

"But Petrie, that's not where Littlefoot and Cera went!" Ducky said when Petrie started flying away. Seeing no other options, she mounted herself on Spike's back, "Well, Spike, we've better go after him before he gets lost."

Spike nodded in agreement before setting off into the tunnel they saw Petrie go down. It was a relatively uneventful walk through the cave, mostly thanks to Spike nonchalantly slog down the tunnel. Still, Ducky didn't mind too much. So long as they were together, nothing would genuinely bring them down.

"Spike, wait. I hear something," Ducky said before hopping off of Spike, "Whatever it is, I hear it in there. Yep, yep, yep." Ducky was pointing to crevice in the wall of the tunnel. To Spike's dismay, it was only big enough to fit someone as small as Ducky, "Don't worry, Spike. I'll be right back. I promise."

Ducky went into the crevice despite her brother's worriedness. The further she goes, the more it was apparent just how much of a tight squeeze it really was. If she were a bit taller or thicker, Ducky would never be able to fit. When she made it through, Ducky saw nothing more than an empty room. How odd. She could've sworn to have heard something moving around in here. Maybe she should just head back out.

But then, the ground in front of her began to crack. As soon as it did, fire began spitting out of the crack. Soon the whole earth opened up in a fiery inferno. Feeling the heat kissing her skin, Ducky ran for the crevice she came from only for the flames circle around and cover it completely. There was no getting around it, or any other way out. Ducky was trapped.

Seeing the fire and brimstone were rising up, it caused the poor little swimmer to remember something from her past. How long ago, the Great Valley had suffered a horrible drought. Those were some tough times for the valley, but the worse was happening with Ducky and her family. Being dinosaurs that dwelled around the water for food, nourishment, and play meant their daily routines were affected to save what water they had left. It was very stressful for the whole family, but none of it took a toll on them quick like it did with Ducky's father.

No matter what happened, Ducky's father did everything in his power to keep his family safe and healthy. Even when it was their family's turn to drink from the water, he simply denied his turn so that that the rest of the family could have more. However, though a noble act, eventually caused him to become sick. Ducky and Spike saw the dinosaur they once looked up to slowly withering away. The worst part was when a fire broke out in the valley. Many of the dinosaurs throughout ended separated from one another to get to their closest escape route. Ducky's father, due to needing some more rest, was not a part of the group Ducky and her friends were with. When she and her friends freed the water, though, a dinosaur told her mother that her father did make it out, but he sadly passed away from exhaustion just before the water was released.

It was like a sick joke, to survive the fire only to die of malnourishment soon after. Though Ducky and Spike were heartbroken over the whole ordeal, at least they didn't feel alone. Their friends knew all about losing a loved one and were by their sides all the way. However, one night, one of her sisters asked where dinosaurs went when they died.

 _"_ _Well, you see children, all good dinosaurs go to a land of paradise much grander than that of the Great Valley. Where they can live happily with all of their loved ones who passed on."_ she once told them.

However, that explanation drew out a different question from Ducky, _"_ _What happens to the bad ones?_ _"_

 _"_ _They will end up in an awful pit of flames where they'll be punished forever for all of their bad deeds."_ her mother answered, " _But don't worry, dear, your father would never end up there."_ That's not why Ducky asked. She was just curious is all.

However, what Ducky saw right now described what she always imagined what the Pit of Flames would look like. But why was it coming for her? She's been a good girl for as long as she could remember. The only bad thing Ducky could ever remember doing was that one time where she was mad with Spike. It was around when the Great Valley had snow for the first time when her brother's spiketailness was starting to get on her nerves, and it got so bad that she even made him leave with another herd of migrating spiketails. But that was so long ago, and Ducky made-up with Spike immediately after reuniting. So why was this happening to her?

"But I don't want to go to the flaming pit. No, no, no!"

Her cries fell on deaf ears as the flames were that of hands in the silhouette. They moved closer to pull the little swimmer into their fiery depths.

* * *

Of course, Spike was worried about his sister traveling into a deep crevice all by herself, but what was he to do? He was far too big to fit in there with her. The best to do was wait. It wouldn't be so bad, he thought. Being the most laid-back member of the gang, Spike always felt it was best to go with the flow, whether then worry too much about every small thing that didn't go right like his friends. Ducky was smart and has gotten out of worse scrapes than this. If she said she'll be right back, Spike knew that she meant it.

Though, if there was one thing that Spike found himself worrying about, it would be food. It made sense for a spiketail, who ate more than their fill, valued such a good shrubby. However, these adventures always left Spike with a bout of hunger as they would still move from one location to the next in such a short period. If only he could catch one little break, then his mind would be at ease.

 _Sniff. Sniff._

Spike picked up the smell of something familiar. Something sweet and mouthwatering. The scent of treestars. In times like this, Spike did what he did best and followed his nose. Walking deeper through the tunnel, Spike found himself a large part of the cavern filled with a plentiful bounty of green food. Spike's mouth began to water as moved around all the delicious delights all over. His stomach was begging him to take a bite of these treestars. Indeed, no one would mind if he took one – several – dozen of treestars as he waited for Ducky.

Spike took a mouthful of leaves into his mouth, and then promptly spat them back out. Looking at the pile of treestars he spat out, Spike saw the most hideous black liquid dripping from the plants. There was, in fact, black goo dripping from trees and plants around him. The goo covered the discarded plants Spike tried to eat and push leaves together to form what looked to be the crude outline of a face.

" _What's the matter, Spike?"_ an eerie voice came from the face of the fallen treestars, _"All we want is to fill your hunger like all the others."_

Confused by that statement, Spike looked around to see any others around. As the goo shriveled up all the plants, Spike could see the ground littered with the bones of grown-up spiketails. Worse than that, the roots of the trees were sprouting out from below the skeletons' ribcages. Though Spike was never the brightest member of the group, he didn't need to be to understand the implications.

" _Come, Spike,"_ the voice began anew now that the goo-soaked leaves took the color of a hideous dark shade of crimson red, _"Feed on us so we may grow!"_

Spike backed away from where he came, however, the way out was blocked by vines. Spike was going to chomp on the vines to escape, but they too started oozing that same black goo. With no other ideas, he was trapped. Trapped, as the goo soon flowed all around him. The treestars surfed along with the black ooze, chanting the same phrase from earlier.

" _So we may grow. So we may grow. So we may grow!_ "

* * *

Littlefoot had been searching for his friends for who knows how long. Honestly, traveling through this dark cave, it was easy to lose track of time. But it wouldn't be the first time the little longneck traveled through a scary dark cave. He still had memories of that time he traveled to the Land of Mist to save his grandpa from a horrible illness and ended up trapped inside of a cave for a few hours. Littlefoot knew that if he could survive that, he could make it through this predicament. So, why did he feel so uneasy about being in here?

Maybe it was the cold air surrounding him, the encompassing darkness, or may it be that no matter where he went, Littlefoot always felt like he was being watched. Maybe he was letting Kemo's story about the Wendigo get to him. He had no idea why. It's just that ever since hearing that name for the first time, Littlefoot felt an unnerving chill surge throughout his body. Such an oddity seeing that this was the first time Littlefoot had ever heard of such a character. Even just thinking of it puts a chill down his spine. No matter. Wendigo or not, Littlefoot was determined to find and get his friends out of here.

" _Littlefoot."_

Littlefoot stopped when he heard his name spoken. At first, he thought that it could have been one of his missing friends. However, though familiar, this voice didn't sound like one of them. If anything, if Littlefoot wasn't mistaken, this voice sounded like close to someone he once held dear.

" _Littlefoot."_

There was no doubt about it now. Littlefoot knew that voice better than anyone. Littlefoot ran as fast as he could to the end of the tunnel to see if his hopes were real. He entered a large area with vents along the group spewing hot steam and emitting a flaming orange glowing throughout the walls. Littlefoot was thankful for the warmer temperature, but he needed to remain focused if he was going to who he was looking for.

" _Littlefoot."_

And then, Littlefoot saw who he was looking for. Who he once thought was long gone, "Mother?"

Yes, that was who he saw, or at least a silhouette of her shadow reflected on the rocks. At first, Littlefoot was skeptical if this could be true. It wouldn't have been the first time something like this happened to him. He did once, not long after her passing, mistook his own shadow for her while in such a grief-stricken state. But this had to be different. He did hear her speak after all, right?

" _Littlefoot,"_ that voice only confirmed Littlefoot's hope, _"My son, how I've missed you. Come, son, come so I may see you again."_

Littlefoot was more than happy to oblige. He scattered around the place, hoping to find where the shadow was being cast. However, the more he looked, the harder it was to determine where the shadow of his mother was coming from. It had to be coming from somewhere, so he'll just have to look harder. With Littlefoot's concentration focused on his mother's shadow, he was unable to navigate around safely and thus tripped over a ledge and into the heating vents below. Littlefoot looked up, realizing that there was no way to climb back to where he was.

"Mother, I'm stuck!" he hollered, "I can't get out!"

" _You must, Littlefoot."_ His mother answered, _"You must before he finds us."_

Before Littlefoot could even ask, a loud roar echo throughout the cavern. But it wasn't just any roar. No, Littlefoot knew this roar well. It was the same that has haunted his dreams ever since he lost his mother. The roar belongs to none other than the monstrous Sharptooth. A monster of a meat-eater who hunted down Littlefoot and his friends while heading to the Great Valley. That, however, lacked in comparison to being the one responsible for killing his mother. But, shouldn't he be dead? Littlefoot and his friends killed him a long time ago. It didn't seem to matter to Littlefoot as all rational thought left in replace with pure fear.

"Mother, help me!" Littlefoot cried out, now hearing the booming footsteps of the approaching carnivore, "It's Sharptooth! We have to get out of here!"

" _It's too late, Littlefoot. He's already found us!"_

Littlefoot gasped in terror as he saw the shadow of a massive t-rex joining that of his mother's. Soon both shadows began tussling with each other, but it was clear which one was winning. The shadow of Sharptooth was tearing through his mother's at a rapid pace. Littlefoot cried out for his mother, but they fell on deaf ears. His mother's shadow was torn apart until there was nothing left. Again, Littlefoot lost his mother to this monster, but that wasn't all. Now, he saw the shadow getting bigger. Sharptooth was coming for him. He was alone. Without his mother, no friends, no Balto. Just him and the unstoppable monster.

* * *

There were very few times where Cera would ever say she regrets her actions. However, she was really beginning to feel that way after entering this mountain. Cera was too proud to admit it out loud, but she was terrified of this place, and desperately wanted to leave. But she couldn't, not until she found her friends. Why would they wander off in such a spooky place like this? If they knew what was in here, what she ran in to, they would all think twice before venturing out like she foolishly did.

Cera was still struggling with what she saw. Could it have been real, or was it all a figment of her overreacting imagination? Regardless, Cera took a step of caution around each corner. Fearing that any moment, she might catch sight of that spectral caribou peeking from the shadows. Cera had no idea how much of her courage would last it that were to happen again. Even the slightest sound of a rock falling sent her on edge.

What also didn't help was the thin ice that layered the floor. Always crackling underneath her heals and echoed around. She stopped to take a break just so to not hear it for a few seconds, but when Cera stopped, the crackling continued from behind. Cera slowly turned her head around to see what horrors be there, and what she saw was darkness vast but nothing more. The crackling was no more. Thus Cera assumed nothing else.

"There's nothing here. There's nothing here." Cera continued to say to herself to ease her nerves, "It's just a trick of the shadows. There's no such thing as Wendigos, spirits, and there's definitely no such things as ghosts."

When she said this, Cera bumped headfirst into a hairy rock. Wait, since when were rock hairy? Focusing her gaze, she saw that it was now moving, and thus Cera realized that was she ran into was not a rock but was actually a massive grizzly bear. But that wasn't all that caught Cera's attention. Behind the bear was another – smaller bear than the one standing in front of her lying dead. Cera dared not speak as the large bear staggered about, his face shrouded in the dark.

"I… I didn't want it to be this way. I never wanted to hurt her." The bear said pathetically while still moving closer to the frightened threehorn, "But I… I couldn't help it. I was just so… so…" from there, the bear's face finally came in view for Cera to see, and she was horrified that it bore the same blood-stained mouth and crazy eyes too similar to the caribou from earlier, "… so hungry!"

The bear raised on his hind legs to strike Cera down, but she jumped out of the way before the bear hands could come down. With a shrill scream, Cera made a run for it in the opposite direction. She didn't care which way she was going as long as it was far away from that monster. Cera was only running a few feet before she stopped in her tracks by another figure coming from the shadow. It was tall, standing upon two legs. It staggered slowly towards the young threehorn until it came close for her to see what it really was. It was a dark skin human male who wore an animal pelt coat and pants. He also bore a blood-smeared face and crazed eyes as he approached Cera with a rusty old ax.

"It doesn't matter how much I want to, I can't stop eating. I crave even more." he said before swinging his ax at Cera.

Again, Cera jumped out of the way and started running down another tunnel. She didn't get far before another beast came from the darkness. A female grey wolf who also sported the same blood-stained mouth and crazy eyes came at Cera.

"No matter how much I eat, even my own friends and loved ones, I still never feel full." the wolf said, lunging at Cera.

Cera barreled under the lunging wolf and continued running down this path. Never, since her days of journeying to the Great Valley, could she remember running for her life so hard. Cera was running so franticly that she once again ran headfirst into someone. When she caught her bearings, Cera looked to see what she ran into. To her horror, Cera had run into the exact same caribou from before. His facial features were the same as how she last saw him, still crazed and manic as ever.

"Now, do you see what _he_ has done to us?" the caribou said, stalking over to the retreating threehorn, "We once lived as nature intended for us to, but then, the Wendigo came and tore our lives apart. No longer do we care for the natural order of things. No more do we care for the difference between predator and prey, friend or foe, family and friend. All we care about is sating our never-ending hunger till the day we die, even at the cost of our very soul."

Cera backed away until her back hit the wall behind her. She was prepared to run again down one of the three tunnels before her, but then Cera stopped as she noticed them all blocked. The bear, human, and wolf walked out of the tunnels and began converging with the caribou onto her.

"But maybe, because your meat is different, maybe you can fill us once and for all." the caribou said, continuing to converge on the young threehorn.

Cera had nowhere else to go. With every second, she could feel the last ounce of bravery slipping away. She was trapped with four raving monsters cornering her. All Cera had to back up on was praying for a miracle as the four captures closed the distance to devour her.

* * *

Balto had no idea how long he was lying confused at the dead end, but he knew that he couldn't wait there forever. He was a wolfdog on a mission. A mission to get Littlefoot and his friends home, and right now, the next step on that path was to reach the center of this mountain. So, instead of wallowing in self-pity, Balto got to his feet and continued his way through the cave. Soon enough, Balto made it to a medium-sized cavern where he stopped to get his bearings.

"Don't worry, Balto. Kemo's a big wolf. He can take care of himself." Balto reassured himself, "I'm sure if I make it to the center, we'll end up meeting up with each other eventually."

Not soon after finishing that statement, the cavern around Balto began to tremble. Balto hesitated for a moment, wondering what on earth was causing these tremors. His question answered when a torrent of water came with such a force to push him to the wall. Balto pushed through the rushing water but would see that this was futile. The rushing water was quickly filling the cavern and was already rising up to his shoulders in no time.

Balto's heart quickened its pace. He never admitted this to anybody, but he had fears of being in this situation. Balto, on many occasions, had terrible experiences when it came to nearly drowning to death in his short lifespan. Such has caused the wolfdog to develop an acute fear of it suffering that fate. However, the rising water was coming in even quicker and, unless he could find a way out of this, one of his greatest fears would soon become a reality.

 **End of Chapter 6**

 **A/N: And with that, I think we'll leave this chapter for now. Yes, I know I've been doing a lot of cliffhangers lately, but I do hope you all can wait patiently as I hope it'll all be worth it. So, I hope you all enjoyed it, and don't forget to leave a review. Till next time.**


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